The Girl Next Door
by scifiromance
Summary: In 2354, the U.S.S Raven crashed on a planet that would, 18 years later, come to by known as 'New Earth' by the two crewmembers the U.S.S Voyager had to leave behind there... 'Resolutions' S02xE25 AU. C/7.
1. Prologue: Annika's Eyes

Annika shuddered with the ship as another thud reverberated close by; it was as if the Raven itself was groaning. She felt sobs building in her throat again as she watched the last of her art pictures, which had all been safely tacked to her bedroom walls when she'd first been tucked into bed, flutter to the floor. To Annika's wide eyes it looked as if the walls were buckling, about to cave in and crush her. "Mama…" She croaked out hoarsely, "Papa!" Clutching her blanket even closer to her chest as her parents' muffled, but fearful, voices seemed to grow more distant rather than closer to her, she slid her face off her tear dampened pillow and cowered in the centre of her bed with the duvet pulled over her, though she had to leave a gap open to let light in, darkness frightened her just as much as the chaos going on around her.

The next blast made the world around her lurch and roll, leaving Annika clinging to her bed sheets as her refuge was for one moment rocked to a strange angle. Her little bookcase, a sixth birthday present from the day before, didn't have any such support and fell forward with a violent crash that drowned out Annika's choked scream even as that sound itself was rendered akin to a whisper when compared with the cacophony of sounds reverberating from the Raven's Bridge. Annika's ears picked up on one particular sound, mostly because it reminded her of the time her father had yelled at her when she'd crept too close for comfort to the set-up for a fireworks display back on Tendara IV. The fireworks had made sounds like that after Papa had dragged her away, sparking and hissing before a final boom…

"Magnus!" Her mother's frantic cry was enough to break Annika free of her stupor, remind her of the existence of comfort and safety. She scrambled out of bed, from the bottom to avoid the debris scattered around her room, and slipped through the door onto the Bridge without even pausing to notice that the doors had only managed to creak halfway open upon her approach.

The Bridge was in uproar. Annika even took a stumbling step back when she saw that the console nearest her bedroom door had exploded, white hot plasma oozing out of the cracked screen as wisps of smoke stifled her cry into a petrified squeak. Her parents were still oblivious to her presence, with her father's towering frame now bent double over the comm. as his wife flitted between the consoles which were still functional. Both sets of their beloved eyes were fixed on something above Annika's head, the viewscreen. When she finally followed their gaze, the tears already escaping from her eyes began to fall in earnest. It was a truly nightmarish sight. The Borg Cube that filled up most of the screen was familiar to her, Papa and Mama had chosen to follow it out of Borg Space when it left on a mission because it carried some of the Queen's special drones, but that familiarity didn't ease her mind, not now. Instead of being surrounded by normal, starry space, both the Cube and the Raven were enclosed in vicious, multi-coloured skies, like a malevolent rainbow which also spat lightning. That lightning was what had been hitting the ship. The Cube was lopsided, it appeared as if something had bitten off one whole corner, and was rapidly falling out of the viewscreen, its green luminosity dimming as it tumbled.

Annika fell as the Raven, too, surged downward uncontrollably. It was only then, as she yelped in pain, that her parents finally tore their horrified gazes from the tumult outside to their young daughter. "Annika!" Her mother gasped out, staggering towards her child, "You can't be out here right now baby…"

"Mama, is someone attacking the Borg Cube?" Annika asked fretfully as she tried to crawl to her mother on her knees, "Why are they attacking us?"

Erin finally managed to catch her daughter under her arm and pin her to her chest, squeezing her eyes shut for an instant as Annika's question made her heart hurt. They'd prepared her in many ways, piqued her curiosity, but nothing could prepare her, or anyone, for what they were faced with. "No, we don't think anyone is attacking us, or the Borg, it's a really bad plasma storm. But don't worry Anni; you know what a good pilot your Papa is…" She tried to slacken the child's grip on her waist then, but Annika just clung tighter. "Annika, we need you to go back to your room and wait. You need to be brave…"

"No Mama!" Annika pleaded tearfully, "Let me stay with you!"

"Erin!" Magnus' shout was strident, his eyes still locked on the comm., he couldn't face his daughter right now. "I need you to find a landing spot, the warp nacelles are gone."

"Gone?" Erin echoed, nauseated. That was enough for her to abandon Annika for that moment, for all their sakes. She ran to the last of the long-range sensor consoles. "The third planet in the system, it's M-Class, but the Cube is heading there too…"

"That doesn't matter, it's our only choice!" Magnus shouted back over the din of the multiple alarms blaring in tandem, "I'm plotting in a course!"

"What do you mean it doesn't matter?!" Erin gasped out in disbelief, "You know what the Borg will do to us if they…"

Only know did Magnus turn to meet his wife's eyes with a tortured look in his own. "I know." He said thickly, "But they're even worse off than us right now, from what I can see on sensors their link with the Collective has been severed, which is why they're in such disarray. If that's not the case then we'll just have to hope they all die in the crash…" Another hit from the plasma sent him crashing forward into the comm. console, but he ignored the winded feeling to dial in his last few commands. "It's going to be a hell of a rough landing, hold on!"

Somewhere beneath his feet, cowering under another console but trying to follow her mother's plea for her to be brave, Annika did indeed hold on even as she wept.

* * *

><p><em>18 Years Later<em>

Chakotay had been standing just outside the shelter clearing the dirt and leaf debris from his shoes for five minutes, being stranded here had given the phrase 'a man's home is his castle' new meaning recently and he'd become punctilious in keeping his new 'home' clean, but he only noticed that Kathryn was inside after he'd already crossed the room to boil water. He jumped when he finally saw her, though he supposed he shouldn't have been _that _surprised to see her bent over the microscope that had pride of place on their sole table, set aside temporarily only when they were eating. He cleared his throat, feeling awkward that in his distraction he hadn't seen her, and more so when she continued to not acknowledge him. "Any further forward?" he eventually asked, though he already knew the answer as well as he knew that the Captain would dance around it.

Kathryn finally glanced up at him, swiping a stand of hair out of her eyes as she did so. "The insects that were in the traps this morning don't carry the virus…" She admitted, her fingers toying with the microscope slides much as he'd been able to observe her doing with her comm. badge on Voyager once upon a time. "But that making me all the more certain that the answer lies in the primates, I'll start designing new traps after I've finished cataloguing this last specimen of the day."

"That could be a challenge." Chakotay remarked thoughtfully as he began to wash the sweat off his face and neck, "My father always used to say that you should never underestimate a monkey, they're related to us after all. If you managed to trap it at all, I doubt you could get it to submit to the tests you have in mind without killing it first."

Kathryn's eyes flashed wilfully for an instant. "I wouldn't kill him Chakotay, humans have tamed primates before, and observing it might tell us something."

"You're right." Chakotay conceded, "We've got plenty more time with the insects and monkeys of this world."

Kathryn's eyes dipped uncharacteristically for a moment. "Maybe." She muttered, "But I don't intend to waste any of that time until I find a cure."

"Kathryn…" Chakotay began, but stopped as he saw her tense for a fight, readiness shining from her eyes, "Maybe it would be more productive to give yourself a break, of sorts. I was going to head out to look for fresh fruit today…"

Kathryn felt a frown begin to form in her brow, though she fought it since she realised he meant well. She was just tired of his, what she was as his insidious, attempts to get her to surrender to this situation. The combination of exasperation and coaxing in his tone hadn't worked while the boundary of rank stood between them, and it wasn't going to work now either. "We have the replicator." She cut him off dismissively.

"Which won't last forever, we have to use all the natural resources we have here." Chakotay pointed out, "What I was going to say was the monkey will probably be more tempted by its native fruits than anything else, perfect bait for your trap. It's getting hot out there; we must be getting into summer, so there should at least we something ripe."

Kathryn's gaze softened, "That's a fair point." She agreed, some hint of apology now present in her strained voice, "But you go on ahead without me today." She sighed heavily as she gestured at the microscope, then down towards the stack of half-built insect and monkey traps around her feet. "I should persevere with this."

Chakotay nodded reluctantly and headed for the doorway, but couldn't stop himself from turning back to her with a weakly teasing smile, "If anyone else were here, they might think you were avoiding spending much time with me."

Janeway chuckled tiredly, "They'd also soon realise I'm not the outdoorsy type, and come to the conclusion that I'd just slow you down." She looked past him and through the doorway to the lush and peaceful forest outside, her face tightening as if she feared it would suck her in. "I'll keep an eye out for fruit myself when I'm checking the rest of the bug traps, I promise."

"I'll hold you to that." Chakotay replied wryly just before she turned back to the microscope and he took that as his cue to leave.

* * *

><p>He'd been walking for almost three kilometres before he found any decently laden fruit bushes, it seemed that the Captain's new monkey friend had picked clean whatever lay closer to home. Not that any of the slim selection he had managed to gather in his canvas knapsack would necessarily turn out to be edible; a tricorder wasn't completely reliable in revealing poisonous alien plant life, as his numerous harvesting trips with Neelix over the course of Voyager's journey had proved. Still, he kept walking. This was by far the most distant he'd been from camp, and that fact alone was replenishing his soul somewhat. He'd actually been arguing the case for exploration for days now, but Kathryn never wanted to stray far from the comfort of her makeshift lab. Was that really any different, in essence, from what he'd been doing though? Building things for the shelter from early in the morning until the last shaft of light failed to penetrate the trees, from bathtubs to headboards, wasn't that about distracting himself from the situation as just Kathryn was using the search for a cure as her crutch? Maybe, he acknowledged, but at least he was part of the way to accepting the way things were. The reality of their marooning. Kathryn hadn't moved an inch towards reconciling herself with that fact. That conversation before he'd left this morning was the most amiable one they'd had in days, after his attempt at trying to push her gently towards acceptance, and then, as his patience had ebbed, confronting her with the impression he had that his efforts to help them both settle, to build a life here, were making her uncomfortable. It had proven to leave her resentful as well, really they'd both withdrawn from each other after that, because, to be honest, he'd been hurt by her accusation that he'd given up.<p>

Was trying to make the situation remotely tolerable equitable with giving up? To think so made his heart ache, though he knew the Captain, for now at least, thought so. He hoped she'd come to appreciate these early efforts of his in time, but as the days passed he grew more unsure. Yet, it wasn't as if he had much choice but to hope, there was only the two of them here, and he didn't want to live in this limbo with her forever, constantly skating on thin ice. He knew he probably could content himself with her if she let go and let him in, he was attracted to her. Always had been, in a way, she was strong, intelligent, curious about the universe around her but with strong morals. All that, and an enigma had always drawn him in. It had been that way with Sveta in the Academy, and of course with Seska, though those two heartbreakers weren't reassuring examples. Kathryn still hid a lot from him. In the social hothouse of Voyager, where loneliness had been endemic if not constant as it was here, he'd often longed for her to open up, but now he found he could hardly rouse himself to try to draw blood from the stone. It had probably lost its appeal when they'd woken up in a real-life 'If you were the last person in the world…' scenario. The knowledge that she would probably want to be intimate with him one day just to relieve the boredom and loneliness wasn't exactly cheering, nor what he'd pictured his relationship with a lifelong romantic partner to be like.

He sighed, irrationally irritated when that one sound echoed eerily through the empty forest around him. There weren't even any monkeys in sight. He took a few hurried, anxious strides forward before checking himself; there was nothing to fear here. To back up the reminder, he began to whistle as he walked, growing louder and more forcefully jaunty with every step he took. So it took him a few moments to hear the occasional rustle around him, but when he did, his eyes zeroed in on it enough to hear heavy breathing. But that was impossible. Maybe this place was making him lose his mind quicker than he would've liked…

A phaser shot however, is much harder to imagine than someone's breath making the hairs on the of your neck stand on end, and in that moment the unmistakable red-orange beam of a phaser shot cut a sharp angled line over Chakotay's head, fizzing threateningly through the air. He dived to the ground with a soldier's sharp instincts, and then scrambled back into a crouching position quickly to assess his attacker. One glance behind him showed the round burn of the phaser on the tree trunk directly behind him, but his attention was really directed forward. Directly opposite him, veiled by the undergrowth but locking with his gaze all the same, were a pair of piercing blue, humanoid, eyes.

**A/n: PLEASE REVIEW! :D I hope you all like my newest AU idea! I'm so caught up with it right now I'll probably go and start on the next chapter as soon as this one is posted. ;) **


	2. Out of the Woods

The blue eyes widened with his; for an instant it was as if Chakotay saw a warped reflection of himself through the trees, but in the next moment the spell was broken. The owner of the eyes twisted away, the greenery shimmering in front of Chakotay's dazed eyes as he tried to focus on the indistinct figure flitting away, slipping out of the grasp of his senses. "Wait!" he shouted hoarsely, springing from his crouching position into a full on run, "Wait!" The bag of fruit he'd been carrying began to slip from his suddenly damp hands, hanging around his ankles. "Don't go!" he called out, growing increasingly desperate as the silence of the forest began to close in on him again, stealing his breath after he'd run just a few strides. He was sprawled out on the ground, with the fruit rolling loose around him, before he realised that his foot was buried among tree roots. The light slanting tauntingly through the trees made him squint as he strained his head upwards. "Come back…please…."

Stillness reigned and he finally let his head rest on the ground as his breathing slowed, his fingers clawing at the dirt. It had been a mirage, this planet may be lush, but it was a social desert, he knew that, and Kathryn would tell him again. There was no reason to go down a rung in terms of her respect for him…

The soft squelch of several years worth of damp, fallen leaves made his breath catch, all despondent thoughts flying out of his head as he saw the lower half of a pair of legs. Sandals. Simple, homemade, maybe made out of wood and leather; similar to what his ancestors would've worn in the summer. Maybe he'd found another colony of 'Sky Spirit' aliens, aliens who could disguise themselves from Voyager, control the weather… A bubble of near hysterical laughter, of relief, left his throat. "You came back…" He whispered faintly.

He heard a gasp echo above him, and the sandaled feet edged forward, Chakotay could feel those eyes boring into him without having to look up. He feared this dream or delusion would end if he pushed it too far. He focused instead on the details at his current eye level. Pale skinned, but the left leg was badly scarred… "Du är manniska..." Chakotay jolted his head upright as he recognised that voice as unmistakably female, his mouth falling open as he met those blue eyes again.

"You're human…" He began in disbelief, rubbing a hand over his eyes.

The woman's hand held an antiquated phaser by her hip, a model he hadn't seen since his Academy days, and its rusted muzzle jerked as she stumbled back from him. "Vem är du?" she choked out, grasping her own carry bag to her stomach like a shield as she gulped, her full lips pursing into a thin line of disbelief.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand you…" Chakotay tried to explain as he scrambled up to his feet, unthinkingly reaching for her arm when she began to back away, but quickly dropping his hand when he saw her flinch. Her left arm was also scarred, more noticeably than her legs, to his uneducated eyes it looked like she'd suffered severe burns at one point. Yet, she was still beautiful, strikingly so, young and statuesque, with her thick blonde hair pulled back from her face in a ponytail. The style exposed one last visible burn scar, her right eyebrow was almost gone and an angry red gash of a burn followed the curve of her cheek on that side. Following the track of his eyes, the girl stiffened further, pulling a long strand of her hair over the offending part of her face and tucking her left arm behind her back, her confused awe becoming a distrustful glare. "Uh…" Chakotay started awkwardly, running a hand through his own hair. Why had he sent aside his comm. badge with its in-built Universal Translator? He should've known better than to discard it as a memento of his former life, of the home he wouldn't be returning to. "I know you can't understand me, but you're not in any danger. I'm just shocked other humans are here… " He put his empty hands up in the air for good measure.

"Du talar engelska…" The girl muttered, pressing a hand to her brow, but she must've seen at least some of his earnestness for her white-knuckled grip on her phaser slackened. She heaved a deep breath as she met his gaze again, "Who are you?" she asked bluntly.

Chakotay blinked at her. "You have a Universal Translator? Or you can speak English?"

"I speak English." The young woman replied slowly, "Now…tell me who you are."

"I'm…Chakotay." Chakotay answered carefully, while trying to place her strong accent. Dutch? Norwegian? "What's your name?" he enquired.

She shook her head distractedly, "How did you get here? We have not…seen a ship crash…"

"We didn't crash." Chakotay replied simply, deciding there was no point to being secretive on that front, before peering at her inquisitively, "Is that what happened to you, your group? Your ship crashed?" She didn't seem to come to the same conclusion about what was worthwhile keeping to herself, at least not as quickly as he had, rocking back on her heels as she studied him intently before finally answering with an abrupt nod. "Our ship needed supplies, our Cap…my friend and I were sent down on an away mission, but it turned out we couldn't leave because of the virus." He continued.

She stared at him blankly for a split second, before realisation lit her bright eyes, but the darkness of doubt and distrust quickly closed up her face, which was just as stunningly beautiful as the rest of her, scars and all. "My…name is Annika." She announced suddenly, giving Chakotay the impression she wanted time to process what he'd just told her, but still he was too intrigued to be truly wary of her.

Instead, he gave her what he hoped was a winning smile. Now wasn't the time to be reserved, not when he'd just found another human, a human who spoke of 'we' on a planet he'd thought was deserted. "Annika…that's a pretty name."

Annika now pulled her hair back out of her face, her own smile in return shy and rueful. "It's Swedish." She explained.

Chakotay coloured slightly, "Oh, so that's what you were speaking before."

Annika sighed and glanced down at her feet, "Ja." She said awkwardly. Her confusion was starting to build, when she'd first seen him she'd seen a threat, proof of why her father made her carry the phaser when she went this far from home, but this man, she didn't know what to make of him.

"Look Annika…" Chakotay began, clearing his throat again. Somehow, though of course he'd been talking to Kathryn, his voice felt as if he hadn't really used it for awhile. "I'm guessing here that we both have a lot of questions, I thought my friend and I were alone on this planet, and the only way we're going to get answers is to trust each other. If you can come to my camp and…"

"Nej." Annika cut in sharply, flushing as she felt his eyes on her, "I should not do that. I have to go…home Chakotay."

She stumbled a little over pronouncing his name, and Chakotay reminded himself to speak clearly. "Well, can I come with you? Or come to your home tomorrow with my friend?" He saw her tense again and tried to reach their common ground again, "It's just that there aren't many people on this planet as far as I know, so we should at least try to get along, right?"

"Right." Annika agreed hurriedly before she caught herself growing too eager and sobered. "I cannot take you home, and you will not find it, it's…protected."

It was Chakotay's turn to smile ruefully, "I thought it must be, since our sensors never revealed a settlement, I'm impressed."

"We have some very…clever people." Annika said, and Chakotay saw that she was nervous rather than being intentionally cryptic. Her eye caught the fruit rolling around the yawning gap between them on the forest floor, and she skilfully scooped up one of the more promising ones that resembled a plum. "This is giftigt…bad." She told him brokenly, scrunching up her face for effect.

"Bad?" Chakotay echoed, "You mean poisonous?"

"Yes!" Annika nodded vigorously, glad to hear the proper English word. "Giftigt…poisonous."

Chakotay now looked down at his meagre collection of provisions with a dubious eye. "Can I eat any of this?"

Annika felt a nervous laugh of her own rise to her lips as she briefly dropped her gaze from his to evaluate his motley pickings. She kicked away the majority of it with her foot, one by one, hearing another embarrassed laugh from him as she did so, then picked up the only remaining specimen she would've touched with a barge pole. "This one is…" Her memory for English words failed her again, and she had to curse the fact that she'd learnt that language almost entirely from books. 'Chakotay', she couldn't figure out what kind of name that was if it was even real, nodded obligingly in understanding and reached for the fruit she held, but impulsively she bit into it herself to prove her point.

I guess I can trust she wouldn't poison me, even if she would wildly fire a phaser at me, Chakotay mentally concluded wryly as he smirked at her, seeing the glint of amusement in her eyes. "Good?"

Annika was disconcerted as she felt heat flood her cheeks. He was…magnetic to look at even as her shock at his being human gradually faded. Even taller than her father, more broadly muscular, she began to feel silly for approaching him as a stranger, he was as imposing as he was handsome. "Yes…" She muttered awkwardly, trying to curtain her thoughts even as he smiled again and her lips automatically curved up to mimic him. "This is better." She declared, glad to lower her eyes to glance in her bag, pulling out her best find of the day and pressing it into his open palm.

Chakotay grimaced slightly, the small fruit she'd given him resembled a prune, not exactly his favourite delicacy. As he watched her brows rise however, he felt goaded into tasting it. A pleasantly mild, sweet flavour exploded on his tongue. "Wow…" he admitted, "It tastes like pear."

Annika started to giggle at his childish expression of awe, but quickly stifled the sound with the back of her hand. "You…have not been here long have you?"

"No." He replied honestly, sensing her eyes sweeping over him and suddenly self-conscious of his snug, almost new clothes and sturdy boots, although he knew he had mud streaked all down his front from his fall. Annika didn't exactly look uncivilised in what she was wearing, in fact in design it was similar to the dresses Kathryn had replicated for herself, just past knee length with summery cap sleeves. However, it was well worn, he could see several patches on the thinning fabric that had perhaps once been a rich purple, but was now a blotchy pink, drained to white in spots where the dye had been washed out. She shifted uncomfortably now under his stare, and he forced himself to elaborate on the question. He didn't feel he had much to lose being honest. "We've been here three weeks, not including the two weeks we spent in stasis." He regarded her gently when he saw her blanch, "How long have you been here Annika?"

Annika shook her head as she gulped hard. "Where…where is your home?"

"My home…" Chakotay trailed off, the words bitter in his mouth. The ship he'd made his home was light years away now. "Our _camp _is about three kilometres east of here." He reached out for her good, uninjured shoulder, though the grip she had on both her phaser and her bag told him she had full function of both her arms, relaxing himself when she didn't flinch away from his touch. "Come back with me Annika, please."

Annika turned her face up to his plaintively, inner conflict deepening the frown on her face. "I…" She stopped, a new thought striking her. "Your _camp_…it has apan…" She sighed as she again combed her mind for a word, "…it has monkeys?"

To her ears Chakotay's chuckle in reply was distinctly sheepish, even as he rewarded her deduction with a wide, almost boyish, grin. "Yes, yes it does."

"I know there…" Annika mumbled, "I haven't been for two months…"

Chakotay heard the self-reproach in her voice, perhaps she felt responsible for patrolling the security her people had obviously managed to put in place, but he decided, perhaps unwisely, to ignore it. "Well, you should come now then. I know Kathryn would love to meet you."

"Kathryn?" Annika echoed, "That's your…wife's name?" she asked tentatively.

She couldn't fail to notice his violent start in response, "No! Yes, no…I mean she's not my wife, but her name is Kathryn." He finally managed to push out a tangled answer.

"Oh."Annika muttered, just to fill the unsettling silence, but quickly distracted herself by glancing up at the sun. It was still high in the air, but Chakotay was so new here he might not realise that. "I must go home."

"There's still plenty of daylight out." Chakotay reminded her, far from fooled, though he had no real idea how distant wherever Annika considered 'home' was from where they stood. He sighed heavily as she took an agile but firm step further back from him. "Look…" He began again, "You're the one with the phaser, I think you can come with me and be perfectly safe."

Annika bit her bottom lip as she felt a smirk begin to form against her will. "I…suppose so." She conceded reluctantly, watching him intently for a long moment before wordlessly slipping the aforementioned phaser into her bag. "I believe the English phrase is…let's go."

**A/n: I've been writing this with a serious cold, so I hope this is okay, PLEASE REVIEW! :D As is always the case when I use Swedish in my chapters, I apologise to any Swedish readers for any mistakes. **


	3. Answers from the Mouth of a Stranger

Chakotay had thought that he and Annika would walk together back to his and Kathryn's 'camp'; he wondered again why, when faced with an outsider, he hadn't called it the 'home' it now was by his own earlier insistence. However, Annika surprised him again by gradually increasing her distance from him as they walked. She made just enough noise, purposefully Chakotay suspected, to reassure him that she was still with him, giving him a glimpse of her golden crown of hair every so often peeping through the undergrowth as she moved with the confident agility of someone traversing their own garden. It hurt him slightly, as socially starved as he was, that she was limiting contact between them, but he knew that in her place, being led by a stranger into their settlement, he would've done the same. She'd been heart-warmingly trusting just by relinquishing her phaser, whether the action was merely symbolic or not. It wouldn't be hard to take the phaser back out of her bag to shoot him after all. Maybe he was pondering her intentions too intensely, it could just be that she didn't want to have to continually maintain her command of English for longer than absolutely necessary…

"Chakotay?" He jumped as he heard her soft voice by his left ear, she'd materialised at his shoulder as suddenly as if she'd been transported there. But of course, one glance at her now muddy sandals told him that she'd just managed to approach him utterly soundlessly. He couldn't help but admit that if he hadn't unnerved her enough to fire her phaser at him then he never would've known she was with him back there.

"You would've made a great Maquis scout…" He chuckled tightly to himself as he looked back at her.

"Maquis?" Annika echoed blankly, a confused and wary frown becoming prominent in her face once again.

He wordlessly waved away the reference, cursing his loose tongue. "What were you trying to say to me?" he redirected her.

Annika's stance relaxed slightly as a small, playful smirk played across her lips. "I was…wondering if that was your camp." She replied as she arched her uninjured arm gracefully and pointed through the trees just to the left of them.

Chakotay halted abruptly as he belatedly realised that she was right, the silver, heat reflecting skin of his and Kathryn's shelter gleamed in the sunlight like a prominent beacon. He'd walked almost to the front door without noticing; he'd been so lost in his own thoughts that he'd returned on autopilot, he may even have followed Annika's sense of direction for all he knew. "Yeah, that's it." He confirmed, frowning a little himself, his embarrassment draining away, as he saw her studying the shelter with an inscrutable expression. "What do you think."

"It's small." Annika replied distractedly, her eyes still fixed on his camp, but she had enough grace to blush as he laughed awkwardly in agreement, finally turning to look at him. "But it's very…new and neat." She gave a satisfied nod, "You will be fine."

Chakotay smiled then, "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

Annika's head dipped shyly, the fingers of her right hand unconsciously coming up to toy with the few locks of hair that veiled her facial scar. "Chakotay…is your friend a doctor? Or you?"

Chakotay touched her shoulder briefly in concern, surprised by the sudden influx of pain and anxiety into her voice. "I'm sorry, no. Kathryn is a very able scientist but not a medical doctor, and as for me, well…" Without intending to be so blatant, his eyes quickly skimmed over the scars that crisscrossed her visible skin. "Our crew did leave us with several full medical kits though if you…"

Annika shook her head as she allowed herself one hard gulp before looking up, able to sense his eyes on her. "These?" She muttered dismissively, dragging her hair behind her ear to put the starkest scar on full display. "No, these are irre…do not matter much."

Chakotay accepted her word, knowing he'd made her uncomfortable. "I'll go and try to find Kathryn." He told her, before regarding her apprehensively, "You'll stay here?" He hadn't intended that sentiment to leave his mouth as a question but somehow, looking at her in that moment, it did nonetheless.

The relief that flooded him when she nodded firmly, and tried her best to smile at him, was of an unexpected strength, but he pushed it aside to make the last few strides up to his supposed sanctuary alone. Still, he glanced back towards Annika every couple of steps, as if to reassure himself that this strange planet's forest hadn't dreamt her up for him. "Kathryn!" he called as he spotted a new bug trap swinging in the wind as it hung from a nearby branch. She wouldn't be far from her research, especially while since he'd departed and left her in peace for a while. "Kathryn!" he shouted again, more urgently this time.

Kathryn's auburn head, her hair less strictly styled than when she'd been tied to the Captain's chair, popped out from behind a tree before she made her way impatiently towards him, the boxy monkey trap she'd obviously been successful in constructing while he'd been gone bundled protectively in her arms. "You're back Chakotay, of course I'm glad but did you have to be so loud in announcing it? I almost had our primate friend and then your voice scared him off…" She trailed off as Chakotay grasped her wrist tightly to interrupt her. "What is it?"

"I've found something…someone a hell of a lot better than a monkey that's all." Chakotay answered, growing flustered. "Well, maybe she found me, or we found each other, but…"

"Chakotay, what are you talking about?" Kathryn shook her head at him in worried bemusement, "Someone? _She_?"

"Yes." Chakotay said resolutely, "Just go into the shelter and get our comm. badges…"

Kathryn shifted her weight to lower her monkey trap gently to the ground before reaching into her dress' pocket and pulling out her comm. badge, pinning it proudly to her breast like a cadet about to meet an Admiral. Chakotay smiled at her, you could take the Captain off her ship but you couldn't take the Captain out of the woman. "I've got it right here, but what precisely do I need it for?" she demanded of Chakotay dryly.

Chakotay didn't think he could explain it without sounding insane, so he merely turned back towards the trees he'd left behind. For a gut-wrenching split second he thought Annika had disappeared, but in the next moment he spotted her, following her usual mo. of disguising herself among the greenery. He was reminded of their first meeting, and hoped it bode well for this next one. "Annika? This is Kathryn…"

Kathryn stared at him uncomprehendingly for a moment, "Anni…" She began, her voice dying in her throat as a girl swept into the open and stopped about half a metre from Chakotay. Her eyes began to hurt as she strained to focus, as well as believe, what she was seeing. "A human? Here?" she whispered, thrown off by the graphic scars but unable to deny that this young woman was undoubtedly as human as she herself was.

Annika couldn't quite bite back a sigh. Was that going to be the new universal greeting? It was what she had first said to Chakotay, though he hadn't understood, and also the first thing he'd said to her directly. "Yes, I am." She confirmed briskly before catching Chakotay's and gesturing to Kathryn's comm. badge. "There's a Universal Translator in that badge then?"

Chakotay grinned at her, able to hear that the system already had all three of them in its net, even without the added support of his own comm. badge. "Great isn't it?" He could tell she'd relaxed a notch as she allowed herself to slip into her native tongue once again. Her voice had a clarity and ease to it that it hadn't before, though he was glad to still hear her Swedish accent, now soft, prettily sing-song and exotic rather than obtrusively thick.

Kathryn, on the other hand, was just starting to face her shock. "I don't understand this. How can other humans be here?" she asked hoarsely.

Annika regarded her levelly, though Chakotay could see that her hand had subtly slipped into her bag. "I could ask you the same question quite fairly, could I not?"

Kathryn stared at her, her own wits not quite gathered yet. "Yes, but…" She shook herself, and Chakotay saw the familiar commanding stance come over her as she stiffened defensively. "My starship, which has some of the most advanced sensors yet built, failed to pick up any humanoid lifesigns on this planet, let alone humans who shouldn't even be in the Delta Quadrant…"

"We intended it that way." Annika cut her off, "The shield gives us some measure of safety."

The interest that statement sparked acted like a bucket of cold water over Kathryn, her sense of tactical priorities returning to her. "A shield? There are hostiles on this planet?" She glanced around the camp with new, suspicious eyes, but her surroundings appeared as benign as ever.

"Not on the surface." Annika replied cagily, stepping back as she prepared herself to flee back to the protection of the forest. Perhaps she shouldn't have taken it upon herself to follow Chakotay, it could well be an error that would cost her and her own. "This region of space is dangerous."

"To have a shield that lets you hide from the Vidiians would certainly be a wise move." Chakotay commented softly, ostensibly to his former Captain but really addressing a visibly uptight Annika.

"Don't we know it." Kathryn replied wryly before giving Annika a cautious smile. "I think we can all conclude here that we have an awful lot to talk about."

"Agreed." Annika responded, glancing quickly between the trees and the shelter.

Kathryn picked upon her cue. "Let's head inside shall we?" she suggested carefully, gathering up the monkey cage with a grunt before heading for the open door.

Annika arched her barely there, scarred over right eyebrow before following the older woman, trusting enough to be content with Chakotay behind her. When she saw that the shelter had basic floorboards to raise it from the ground, she automatically bent to take off her dirtied sandals and leave them outside, smirking as she saw guilt pass over Chakotay's face just before he began hastily kicking off his own boots. "I have to clean the floor at my house." She explained teasingly.

Kathryn heard Chakotay's sheepish but light chuckle in response and decided now was the time to make introductions, extending her hand to the girl as she moved past the threshold. "I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway of the U.S.S Voyager. Commander Chakotay is my First Officer."

If she'd expected some joy in response to this show of Starfleet, and by extension Federation, authority, Annika's reaction was the polar opposite of what she'd anticipated. All of the colour in her young face drained away, a strangled, angry gasp leaving her throat as she stumbled backwards, almost colliding with Chakotay. "Starfleet?" she choked out in disbelief, instantly tense and defensive. "That's impossible! There's no way a ship would be stationed in the Delta Quadrant…" She railed before fighting to compose herself, "Unless there is some amazing new engine, or a wormhole…"

"None of the above I'm afraid." Chakotay cut in sadly.

"Listen, Annika, that's the name you told Chakotay isn't it…" Kathryn began.

Annika bristled, offended by the implication that she'd lied to Chakotay about so basic a fact, when they hadn't had the decency to reveal their link to Starfleet until she was trapped in their home. "I told him so because it _is _my name." She answered icily, "I am Annika Hansen."

"Well, Miss Hansen, how Voyager got to the Delta Quadrant is a long and complicated story, but I can assure you…" Kathryn's voice became strained and bitter, "…that Chakotay and I are alone here now. Our crew had to leave us so they could continue on their journey home." Seeing Annika's face waver in the face of her own emotion, Kathryn added quietly, "I suspect our story is just as complicated as how one sole human girl ended up on New Earth, hidden by a shield on an otherwise primitive world."

"New Earth?" Annika repeated, her mouth twitching with saddened irony as she studied Kathryn with new sympathy. "As for _our _long story, it is not wholly mine to tell." She sighed heavily, "I should not even have revealed the existence of the shield."

"Maybe not, but I'm glad you did." Kathryn replied, "It shows some measure of trust."

Annika glanced at Chakotay for confirmation of the sentiment; she heaved a deep breath when Chakotay smiled at her encouragingly. "Chakotay told me you were left here because of the virus, the one which lies dormant on the surface."

Kathryn gave Chakotay a sharp look and remained silent for a time before answering. "Yes. Is that why you're stranded here?"

"Not exactly." Annika answered warily as she eyed the microscopes that dominated particularly half the shelter. "May I?"

"Go ahead." Chakotay jumped in before Kathryn could deny her, he'd had a feeling that Annika knew about the virus ever since he'd first brought it up.

Her bare feet padding across the floor, Annika expertly set the microscope to peer down at the current slide. She'd hardly glanced at the sample before her head shot up with her features twisted into an incredulous frown. "You've been studying the flying insects, the alien mosquitoes so to speak?"

"That's what bit us, how we contracted the virus…" Kathryn began to explain patiently.

"No, no it's not." Annika countered resolutely. She turned away from her to focus on Chakotay instead, "Did you dig for soil samples when you came on your away mission?"

Chakotay nodded, "That's the standard procedure."

"Then it was the ground burrowing beetle that infected you." Annika concluded confidently, "These…" She gestured at the microscope dismissively, "The 'mosquitoes' carry many viruses, but not the one which afflicts you."

Chakotay looked to Kathryn, grasping her arm to support her when he saw her face pale. "So, you're saying…we could've been dissecting these bugs for years and never would've had a chance of finding the cure?"

"That's what I'm saying." Annika confirmed quietly, "It's been proven."

"By who?" Kathryn burst out accusingly as all her hope, so cherished before now, of finding the cure quickly and returning to Voyager, abandoned her as completely as kit had sustained her. "How are you qualified to judge that?"

Annika had intended to tread carefully with this woman, but her sense of pride as well as her social inexperience kicked in. "Both of my parents have PhDs in exobiology so I'd say they're highly qualified to judge!"

Kathryn blinked, feeling dazed. "Your parents?" she echoed faintly.

Chakotay shifted so that he was standing between the two women. "You live here with your _parents_ Annika? How long have you been here?"

Annika's pale face was resolutely impassive for a moment, but something in his beseeching question broke through her defences. He could see her eyes shimmering with emotion as she looked up at him. "18 years." She finally whispered.

**A/n: PLEASE REVIEW! :D **


	4. Into the Hansens' Den

**A/n: Thanks to Sweetdeath04 for updating 'Masks' with a brilliant new chapter! The aftermath of 'Equinox' does need to be explored and you're doing a great job of it in that story!**

"18 years?" Chakotay echoed hoarsely. Annika's whisper may as well have been a hard punch to the stomach, he'd guessed that she'd grown used to life here, but eighteen years? That made Voyager's journey so far seem like small change in comparison. One glance at Kathryn made his gut twist a second time in confirmation. If Annika's first revelation about the nature of their infection had been a body blow, this one had kicked her legs right from under her. Her face was violently, disturbingly pale as she grasped at the table for support, staring at the intruder with vacant, unseeing eyes.

"Isn't that what I said?" Annika said with harsh impatience before she turned away from him for a moment, heaving a deep breath as she regained control. "It's actually been a little longer than that technically, the years on this planet are the equivalent of thirteen Earth months, but we've always used the Stardate calendar system to keep track." She took a tentative step forward, her uninjured hand lightly touching Kathryn's upper arm in understanding as she gazed sadly up at Chakotay, but almost as soon as that instant of connection had formed been the three of them, she broke it, twisting away back towards the door. "I think we've talked enough for today." She advised Chakotay quietly as she hitched her bag back over one shoulder. "I…" The uncertainty Chakotay had first glimpsed in the forest returned to her eyes, "I can come back tomorrow?"

Chakotay took one strong stride towards her, keeping their gazes locked. "Please." He murmured softly.

Annika's shaky nod was interrupted by Kathryn's voice, suddenly strident. "No, wait!"

Chakotay saw Annika shy slightly at her tone and glanced at Kathryn warningly. "Captain…"

She barely acknowledged him as she moved confidently past. "No Chakotay." She dismissed him with a wave of her hand as she turned her focus completely on Annika. "Miss Hansen, I understand you have bigger considerations, the safety and welfare of your group and so on, I respect that…" She paused to allow Annika to nod warily, obviously caught off guard by abrupt shift in the older woman's mood. Chakotay however, had seen Kathryn turn on her 'Captain' switch often enough to recognise what was happening. Kathryn now commanded the space so utterly the little shelter may as well have been Voyager's Bridge, and Annika the unsuspecting alien on the viewscreen. Annika could sense it on some level, despite being the taller and more athletic of the two, she was shrinking away from the Captain's presence. "But…" Kathryn continued, "From what I gather we're only going to have each other to rely on however long we're stranded here. For myself at least, I intend to do everything I can to get off of this planet, and I think working together would give us all the best chance of achieving that goal we surely share." She only stopped for air as she stared up at Annika resolutely, "I'm asking you to take us to your camp, as soon as possible, today."

Annika appeared slightly dazed, not used of course to Kathryn's grand and affecting speeches. "To escape, or to live here, you're right in saying that we can help each other, but…" She bit her lip, "It is not entirely my decision."

"But by taking us to your camp we can meet the others who would make that decision?" Kathryn pressed her.

Annika's eyes roamed the shelter, as if searching for an escape route, it was only when they fell on Chakotay's face, which at that moment was considerably less intimidating than Kathryn's, did she seem to settle on a decision. "Yes, you could." She conceded reluctantly, sighing heavily again as she glanced out the open door, "If you really do want to come with me, we should leave now, so that you have time to get back here before the sun sets."

"It's a deal then." Kathryn agreed in eager satisfaction before her eyes narrowed slightly, "How far is it to your camp exactly?"

"Around 7 kilometres." Annika answered nonchalantly as she retrieved her sandals and put them back on. She gave a small smirk, starting to relax again, when she saw their faces in response to that. "You're going to have to learn to enjoy a good walk if you live here, for no matter how long."

Chakotay smiled at her gamely, hearing the challenge in her tone, as he too got into his boots. "I knew that Starfleet wilderness training would come in handy some day."

"And it hasn't already Commander?" Kathryn asked drily, "I'll need to assign you to more away missions if we ever get back on Voyager."

Chakotay grimaced good-humouredly, "I wouldn't go that far Captain."

Annika's face however, had tightened. "Don't mention that you're Starfleet until I tell them, it might not go down well." She ignored Kathryn's unsettled frown and gestured back towards the research she had just discounted, "Bring some of that with you if you wish, since you didn't believe me, and I'll try to convince them to help you with it."

Kathryn's face brightened and she scurried to the back of the shelter to grab hold of her largest carry case. Chakotay didn't wait around to watch her deliberate over what to pack. Vital research or not, he'd heard enough about viruses and the equipment necessary for their study to last him a lifetime. He followed Annika instead, an amused smile pulling at his lips as he saw that she was leaning over the side of the bathtub he'd built, studying it with an intent, almost childish, curiosity. "It's a bathtub." He explained as he came up behind her.

Annika jumped at the sound of his voice and immediately pulled herself upright, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment at being caught out before that feeling was overtaken by incredulity. "You had a bathtub brought down from your ship?"

Chakotay laughed at the thought, "Hardly." He cleared his throat as, staring at it, the bathtub struck him as the folly Annika obviously thought it was. "Actually I built it…" He admitted, "I was…pretty bored." He added lamely.

Annika nodded in understanding, "Why do you think I learned English, Italian…and a little Klingon?" She asked wryly, "Boredom is to be expected here. I only asked about the bathtub because there are several hot springs in this area for bathing…"

"We didn't see much geothermic activity on Voyager's sensors…" Chakotay muttered thoughtfully.

"Our shield can disrupt many types of sensors." Annika replied confidently, "Believe me, the hot springs do exist."

"And knowing about them would've saved me from having to heat up bucket after bucket of water to fill this damned bathtub for Kathryn…" Chakotay concluded with a shake of his head, giving the tub a small kick before joining Annika when she began to giggle. The Captain herself finally appearing at the shelter's door with two cases squeezed under one arm and a tricorder tightly in hand put a stop to their laughter, but Chakotay couldn't stop himself from trying to lighten the mood once more. "Hey Kathryn, it sounds like I could've saved myself a lot of work if I'd just discovered some hot springs before I started building that bathtub!"

"I didn't ask you for it Chakotay…" Kathryn replied distractedly as she pushed on ahead, already preoccupied with her tricorder. "Lead the way please, Miss Hansen!"

* * *

><p>They managed to cover a good level of distance even with Kathryn stubbornly loaded down with her cases. Chakotay could hardly be impressed with their efforts though, since Annika moved through the progressively thickening forest with an ease he had to envy. The young woman, for even after the revelation of her eighteen year stay here changed his calculations a bit she was still undoubtedly young, did not disappear for long stretches as she had when they'd been heading back to his camp, he supposed she was leading rather than following him now, still kept a good gap between herself and her new companions. Kathryn at least, was growing suspicious as she tired, "This is the densest section of forest we've been through on this planet, sunlight is having trouble getting through, why would anyone make camp around here?"<p>

"They're anxious enough to build a shield that hides their lifesigns from orbit, and presumably a lot of other things besides, so a forest hideout makes sense." Chakotay answered tightly.

Kathryn pursed her lips, "The shield… The prospect of such technology excites me of course, but it should make us twice as wary. How did Annika's people get a hold of such superior technology? I've never heard of any Federation expeditions to the Delta Quadrant, certainly not scientific ones as she seemed to indicate…how do we know for sure that she is human? We've been deceived before…"

"Annika _is _human!" Chakotay cut her off sharply, dipping his gaze when Kathryn gave him a searching look, "I know it Captain, she was just as stunned to see me as I was to see her, maybe even more so. And besides, wouldn't some manipulative telepathic alien just speak English with me straight off…"

Since Kathryn could tell her First Officer was prepared to fire off several more points in Annika's defence, she put her free hand on his shoulder to silence him. "I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt Chakotay, believe me, I'd love to find other sentient life forms here let alone humans, I'm just saying that we need to be aware that some things don't add up quite yet."

"They will." Chakotay said quietly, before turning to his Captain, "But I do understand what you're saying."

Kathryn smiled at him in relief, "Good."

Annika reappeared in front of them, breathing hard but nonetheless composed. "We've almost reached the shield."

Chakotay frowned as his eyes focused in on the sound of rushing water nearby. "Is there a river first?"

Annika was pleased by his perceptiveness, "Yes, and we need to cross it. I went ahead to check the current, it's strong but still safe to wade across."

"You have to wade across a river every time you want to step outside your shield?" Chakotay asked, doubting her for the first time.

"No, there are of course other places that can be passed through." Annika replied honestly, "But this one is closest to your camp and I'm sure you understand that I do need to take some precautions."

"That would only be sensible." Kathryn agreed in a neutral tone, through internally she was perturbed. "But you will allow us to cross the river and go through the shield afterwards?"

"Yes." Annika assured her tiredly, "Come on." They walked another half kilometre or so before the river did indeed stretch out before them. Chakotay saw at once that Annika was right and it could be waded through, it was long and fast flowing, winding over the forest floor, but narrow at the point she'd led them to as well as relatively shallow. "We did ford it at one point with a fallen tree." Annika explained briefly, "But the last storm washed it away downriver."

Kathryn frowned thoughtfully, "We haven't been through any bad weather yet…"

"When we have a storm you'll know about it." Annika cut in, "Plasma storms form just above this planet's atmosphere and affect the weather accordingly."

Kathryn swallowed, that didn't sound hospitable. There seemed to be a growing list of reasons this particular M-class planet didn't naturally support humanoid life. "That's…unusual." She conceded faintly with an uneasy glance at Chakotay.

"I think we've already established that about this planet on several levels Captain." Chakotay responded as he took off his boots, bunched up his socks inside them and rolled his trousers up to his knees in preparation for the task ahead.

Annika, sandals already in one hand, slipped her feet in at the water's edge, gasping slightly at the chill at first but soon relishing it after the long walk. No matter how she'd teased those two, she wasn't used to walking back and forth this far from home either, they couldn't do without her at home for long and that guilt built up on her fear that Chakotay and his Captain would be sent packing. "Follow my path exactly and hop from stone to stone where you can." She ordered without looking back at them as she held up the worn skirt of her dress and began to wade steadily through the water, soon finding one of the smooth stones resting on the surface that she'd spoken of and stepping on, soon hopping her way right to the slimy but secure soil of the opposite bank.

Chakotay couldn't quite follow that display of mountain goat like agility, but he was tall and strong enough to wade through the water itself without much difficulty, since the water didn't reach his knees. He was glad he'd been wise enough to take one of Kathryn's cumbersome cases with him, she had enough trouble trying to cross with one held high above her head and her tricorder strung around her neck. She fell to her knees at one point, getting thoroughly soaked, but grit her teeth and scrambled back up, making it to the bank looking like a drowned rat but with the perfectly dry research case proudly grasped in her hands. "Are you okay?" Chakotay asked in concern when he saw her frantic expression.

"Yes." She batted him away impatiently, "Where is this shield Annika?"

"Here." Annika answered simply, holding her hand out in the only gap between the densely packed trees. A luminous green forcefield instantly flashed into existence around her splayed fingers, the impact of her touch rippling out until they could see that the forcefield enveloped not only the extent of the forest they could see on this side of the river but far beyond it and high into the surrounding sky. She crossed her arms over her chest defensively when she saw their stunned expressions. "After I lower the shield to let us enter and then raise it again, technology will stop functioning. I can re-set the shield to accept your devices' frequencies but only from home."

Kathryn's face hardened again into suspicion, "So our tricorders, the Universal Translators in our comm. badges…"

"Will all stop working for now, yes." Annika confirmed before adding only half-jokingly, "Don't worry, Chakotay will tell you that my English is much better than his Swedish."

"It certainly is." Chakotay chuckled as he peered through the forest in search of any sign of a forcefield generator, but the trees remained empty and secretive to his eyes. "Is it some sort of advanced electro-magnetic field? That affect has been mostly overcome by modern technology though…"

"The basic principle is the same." Annika replied, cagey once more as she suddenly grasped a wire that had been camouflaged in the bark of the nearest tree and with a small tug a neat device that fit snugly into her hand descended down from the tree line. Kathryn tried to look over her shoulder to investigate it, but she couldn't begin to decipher the symbols on the control, which gave off a dim glow the same burning shade of green as the forcefield itself. Annika's fingers did a brief dance across the key pad and as the shield shimmered obediently she hastily pulled both Chakotay and Kathryn through it before in reinitialised almost immediately. "You are now behind the shield." She announced pointedly as she moved forward with new haste, her accent once again thick, her words slow. "We must go."

Kathryn however, had finally noticed the phaser hidden in Annika's bag. "Will that still work behind the shield? You must've set your own technology to match the shield frequency…"

"Ja." Annika broke in shortly, impatiently pulling out the phaser for her to inspect. "But this is old. It only has one shot before…charging. I already shot Chakotay."

Kathryn spun around to face Chakotay, aghast. "She _shot _you?"

"She shot _at _me." Chakotay corrected, nonplussed. "You missed didn't you Annika?"

"I did miss." Annika agreed distractedly, more on her mind now than Kathryn's opinion of her as they approached home.

"You never told me she fired at you!" Kathryn hissed in Chakotay's ear, having to break into a jog to keep up with his and Annika's longer strides.

"You never asked." Chakotay reminded her, "And she never intended to hurt me then, I just frightened her." He elaborated tersely, intrigued by the change in Annika's manner, fresh anxiety had steeped into her stance as she walked ahead.

Suddenly a deep, male voice echoed through the trees, Chakotay could tell the speaker was close, but, predictably with his Universal Translator down, he couldn't understand a word of what was said. "Annika? Du är sen!"

The voice sounded distinctly worried rather than in any way threatening, but Kathryn still demanded, "What did he say?"

"He said that I'm late." Annika answered, her frown deepening in consideration before she softly called a reply, "Tala engelska Papa!"

"Papa?" Chakotay muttered as he exchanged a glance with a now curious Kathryn.

The man's reply, with its strong hint of exasperation, confirmed his relationship to Annika as clearly as anything. "Du vet jag talar inte engelska Annika…" His words ringing around the trees heralded his arrival and both Chakotay and Kathryn gasped in surprise.

Mr Hansen, or Dr Hansen if what Annika had claimed was true, was in his mid to late sixties, his straggly hair grey with streaks of dark blonde. His frame, which had once undoubtedly been tall and lean, was thin and hunched over, the stoop in his shoulders emphasised by the fact that he used a crude wooden crutch, his right leg had been amputated above the knee. Despite the unexpected physical frailty which had so shocked the incomers, the blue eyes which widened at the sight of them were keen and sharp as flint. "Papa…" Annika began anxiously, breaking into a sprint to reach him as he stumbled back.

"Herregud!" He exploded in horror, snatching at his daughter's arm and with surprising balance and dexterity reaching around her to seize the phaser from her bag, pointing it steadily at the two intruders even as he wobbled without the full support of his crutch.

"Passa dig!" Annika hissed angrily, wrestling the phaser from her father hand and throwing it aside before forcing him to rely on his crutch again. "Jag kan förklara…"

They then launched into a conversation that was undoubtedly an argument, whispered and un-translated though it was, father and daughter becoming heated to an extent that made Chakotay and Kathryn begin to panic. "Are you getting a word of this?" Chakotay muttered to his Captain.

"Well, I'm guessing that the 'Stjärnflottan' he just spat out in disgust is Starfleet."

"I thought that too." Chakotay muttered back drily, "Shouldn't we intervene?"

"I think if he could understand English he'd be yelling at us by now." Kathryn replied with a sigh.

They listened in again as Annika shifted back towards them, her hands on her hips. "Var är Mama?"

Her father halted, stumped for a moment, then shook his head determinedly, worry and anger shining from his eyes. "Nej, Nej Annika. Din Mama är sjuk…"

"Jag vet!" Annika exclaimed hotly, white faced as she spun away from him to move deeper into the forest and back home to get her mother to reason with her father.

He grasped her wrist again to hold her back, head bowed for a moment before he studied Chakotay and Kathryn for a final time, more thoughtfully this time. "Okej." He murmured to his daughter resignedly, before lifting his gaze to stare the two officers down with steely eyes. "Kom med oss." He stated shortly, gesturing for them to follow him and Annika deeper into the forest.

**A/n: PLEASE REVIEW! :D Once again, I apologise to any Swedish readers if I got any of your lovely language wrong, although I did get some help from the Swedish subtitles on my 'Voyager' DVDs this time. ;)**


	5. Language Barriers

Kathryn shifted both of her cases onto one hand as she grasped Chakotay's shoulder, leaning towards his ear as she warily eyed Annika and her father walking a few hundred metres ahead, their conversation calmer, but almost as rapid and of course still completely incomprehensible to her monolingual ears. "Where do you think they're leading us?"

Chakotay mulled over his reply, knowing that any answer he gave was unlikely to satisfy her. "Annika said pretty clearly that the device she needs to alter to allow our technology to function is near her home, so I'm guessing they're taking us there."

"Her father didn't seem keen, I'm not sure Annika managed to convince him…" Kathryn muttered apprehensively, "We could be walking into a trap."

"I think that they've got just as much right to be wary of us as we have to be wary of them." Chakotay reminded her, "Dr Hansen isn't exactly fighting fit."

"No." Kathryn readily admitted. The older man's gait had steadied since they'd first encountered him; he now looked as agile as anyone reliant on a crutch could in a muddy forest with multiple obstacles underfoot. He wasn't new to his disablement, had memorised the lay of the land, she was stumbling more than he was. "But I get the feeling these people have always relied on their brains to defend and attack."

Chakotay nodded in agreement, lengthening his strides as he saw Annika turn away from her father, who kept heading forward and soon disappeared over the rim of a slope, and approach them again. "We'll keep in mind the Starfleet protocols that advise to be prepared for anything."

Kathryn chuckled, "I'm pretty sure that's the one unwritten rule, or maybe it's weaved into the expectation of an officer's common sense."

"Must be a Maquis rule then." Chakotay teased, ignoring her indignant gasp as Annika reached them. He was glad to see that she was the one who'd retrieved her phaser rather than her father.

"We are here at my home." She reported without preamble, ushering them nervously up the slope, "My father has gone ahead…"

Captain and Commander both tensed at that, experience sadly telling them to expect an ambush, but instead as they looked down at the scene now spread out below them, they were shocked on an entirely different level. Annika's 'home' was both an impressive compound, and a rambling, scarily precarious structure, what Chakotay would've imagined a rabbit's warren to be like; winding, complex and ready to collapse at any moment. The burnt out, hardly recognisable shell of a small vessel was at the centre of the pinwheel, with simple wooden extensions added to plug the multiple holes in the fuselage and expand the limited living space. It was a scene that verged on dystopian, wrecked technology bound up with the architecture of the old American Wild West frontier. "Well…" Chakotay began as he caught Annika's carefully expectant gaze, "I can see why you thought our shelter was small."

"It's in a crater…" Kathryn murmured in amazement, now able to realise that they were standing at the edge of a shallow crater, which the Hansens ship had gouged into the forest floor. She could even see their final flight trajectory by studying the sharp gash in the tree cover above them, the trees that had been felled by this violent crash had yet to be fully replaced eighteen years after the traumatic event.

"We did not have the luxury of deciding where to…have camp." Annika replied shortly, already beginning her practising half walk half slide down to the base of the crater.

"What did you do with your warp core?" Kathryn called after her, sighing the girl shook her head. Considering how good her English had proven before, Kathryn couldn't help but suspect that she'd been instructed not to answer such questions.

"It looks a lot like a Danube class shuttlecraft, but not quite…" Chakotay mused, trying to focus on what he could make out of the downed ship, searching for some enlightening detail.

"Maybe an Aerie class, along the same lines as a Danube but bigger." Kathryn replied, "They're obsolete now, but were a popular model in their day about twenty years back, which would match their story. The Federation Science Council used them frequently, and also loaned them out to private researchers…"

"Which also would match up with what Annika's told us so far." Chakotay finished, "Are you ready to let that trust stretch a little further?"

Kathryn smiled at him wanly; her eyes still dark with caution even as her voice was warmed by hope. "I'm willing to talk…" She looked down at improvised but still ingenious structure they were faced with entering, "…wherever they will sit down with us to discuss our shared situation. If they're as trustworthy as I'm _beginning _to believe, then they're certainly worth getting to know." She didn't even wait for Chakotay's reply before following Annika towards what obviously served as the main door, built into one of the larger log built additions that seemed to serve as a porch. Shaking his head at her even as relief flooded him with a surprising force, Chakotay reached the door last, a small wooden sign nailed firm to the threshold catching his interest.

"K…Korpsbo…" He muttered, almost stuttering as he tried to approximate some sort of pronunciation of the foreign word.

Annika arched a brow at him in amusement, but quickly obliged his curiosity. "It means 'Raven's Nest'." She explained with a small smile before turning piercing eyes on Kathryn, "Our ship…" She gestured loosely at the wreck which loomed beside them, "…was the U.S.S Raven." She saw their two sets of eyes widen, and though she tried to maintain her smile it became a semi-grimace, "My parents have had to…develop a dark sense of humour."

Chakotay swallowed slightly, "I can understand that."

"Ja…" Annika agreed with a shrug before disappearing inside, Chakotay only a step behind and dragging Kathryn in with him.

It took a few seconds for their eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room; the open door was its only source of daylight. Chakotay's thoughts of the frontier continued to ring true, basic but sturdy wooden shelves lined one wall and the bench Annika's father sat on rested against another. Yet, it wasn't just an entryway, the big, square, metallic table in the centre of the room wouldn't have looked out of place in Voyager's Mess Hall, nor the few chairs squeezed around it. The clash of what these people had once had, and what they had at their disposal now, could hardly have been starker.

This time however, Annika didn't spare a millisecond of her attention on the newcomers' reactions; her sole focus was reaching the small figure curled in the chair farthest from the threatening chill of the doorway, bundled up snugly in a blanket fraying at every corner. "Mama, hur mår du?" she demanded anxiously, her voice catching as she spoke in a panicky rush, "Förlåt mig, jag är sen…"

"Annika, jag mår bra, jag mår bra." A lovely, soft female voice replied, gently but firmly. Her hand left the security of the blanket to cup her daughter's face, the blue veins under the almost transparent skin of that hand poignantly visible when compared to Annika's creamy complexion, though her mother's fingers paused over the scarred flesh that dominated the right side of Annika's face. "Oroa dig inte, min älskling." This was a reprimand for sure, though sorrowful with understanding.

Chakotay watched the scene with a lump in his throat, glaring light thrown on why Annika had asked him, almost pleadingly, if he or Kathryn were a doctor. It wasn't, as he'd thought just moments before, for her father's sake. If Annika had the leanness of a hungry young cat, and her father the haggard look of someone carrying the weight of the world, then her mother was someone hanging onto her life in said world by her fingertips. She'd been beautiful once, he could see enough of Annika's features in her hollowed out, sallow face to know that for certain, but whatever illness was ravaging her had almost run its course. However, it was Annika who looked vulnerable in that moment, quivering at her mother's side like a frightened fawn. He could see Kathryn's expression out of the corner of his eye and hoped he didn't look half as stricken as she did gazing at the failing woman. He knew from experience that seeing the confirmation of what they must already see coming in the eyes of others would cut Annika and her father to the quick.

The woman looked past her daughter and stood abruptly, her jaw set in a tense, determined line even as she wobbled on her feet and had to brace herself on the table. Her suddenly steely, grey gaze never wavered though even as both her loved ones gasped and implored her as the blanket fell away. She stared at the interlopers as if challenging them to dismiss her and reap the mistake, regal as a queen in her castle despite the fact that her frame, she stood almost as tall as Annika, had that particular frailty of someone who'd lost weight all at once. "Välkommen…" She chuckled dryly to herself and exchanged a wry glance with Annika, who exhaled as if forcing herself to relax and not quite succeeding. "Welcome to our home." She corrected, slipping into English that was a slower, less natural echo of her daughter's. "I am Dr Erin Hansen…" She shot her recalcitrant husband a pointed glance and he left the bench to walk to her side, "…this is my husband Dr Magnus Hansen, and you know Annika…"

Kathryn smiled at her in relief, sensing a kindred spirit of sorts in Erin. "You speak English?"

Erin pressed her lips together, an expression Chakotay recognised from whenever Annika was considering what to say. "Liten…a little." She answered, "My…grandmother was from Boston."

"Oh?" Kathryn replied eagerly, finally setting her cases down on the floor. "Is that where you got your name from? Erin sounds Irish American rather than Swedish…"

Chakotay fought the laugh coming to his lips, sometimes the contrast between Kathryn the sceptical scientist and 'Kathy', the woman who adored everything kitsch, twee and melodramatic amused him; she had a tenacious attachment to her Irish ancestry and lapped up all the touristy folklore that holonovels still propagated about that proud country. He liked it less when the same contradiction made her relish some aspects of his own Native American heritage and disregard or belittle other aspects that were often the most serious to him. Dismissing the stray thought, he smiled with warm politeness at Erin, while also being compelled to reach out to touch Annika's arm in reassurance, "Your and Annika's English is very good. You taught her?"

The smile Erin gave him, which had been wide as she saw him show kindness to her daughter, instantly thinned, her eyes becoming unreadable, Magnus actually flinched. "Not…exact." She replied stiltedly, her English tripping up.

"Annika?" Magnus spoke up, gently pulling his daughter aside by the elbow and apparently restarting their earlier conversation.

Chakotay tried not to focus on them, he was driven to try to gleam _something _from whatever they were saying, even if it was just studying the subtle changes in their taut, serious faces. Erin had stopped talking, either because she was tired, or, as he was beginning to suspect, she'd used up most of her English vocabulary despite her confident delivery. The apprehension pulled out of them by his question made him wonder, who _had _taught Annika English?

His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden beep of a tricorder nearby, already an almost foreign sound after these weeks on New Earth to find Magnus scanning him and Kathryn with an intent expression on his face, murmuring a stream of information to Annika standing at his shoulder. Kathryn's eyes narrowed suspiciously, but Annika immediately moved forward to deflect her. "We have found the frequency for your technology. I will reset our defences to allow it to work." She started to move towards the door, but her father held her back for a moment, copying Erin's earlier gesture and stroking her scarred cheek comfortingly as he pressed the tricorder into her hand.

Erin, too, looked to her daughter as Annika headed for the door, saying something that finally made Annika's smile return with all its natural brightness, and she directed it as Chakotay and Kathryn as, perplexingly, she picked up a large bucket sitting by the door. "I'll be back soon." She assured them calmly before regarding her father with a strained smirk, "Du ska vara trevlig Papa?"

Erin burst out laughing, and even Magnus chuckled until his wife's laughter became a coughing fit. Annika's face fell guiltily, but Erin was quick to dissuade her concern by letting Kathryn and Chakotay in on the joke, "Yes, I will make sure your father is nice to them Anni."

"Erin…" Magnus muttered in embarrassment before curiously peering at Kathryn's cases after a blushing Annika had left. She must've told him of Kathryn's, in her opinion, pointless trials and tribulations while she'd walked with him.

Kathryn eagerly opened the case, ready to have Annika's dismissal disproved by her more qualified parents, but Chakotay was distracted by the sight of Annika bent over a water pump he'd previously failed to notice. "There are only the three of you here aren't there?" he asked, unable to keep an irrational note of accusation from his tone, Annika was apparently the sole support, the single carer, for these two frail, unorthodox scientists who were also her parents. If there were others, surely they would be here?

Erin bristled in her chair, but finally responded with weary, but sharpened, frankness. "There are only two of _you_, nothing is different."

**A/n: PLEASE REVIEW! :D I'm wondering if anyone's going to be able to guess what Annika's going off to do, other than make the universal translators work again… ;) **


	6. Mothers and Daughters, Humans and Others

Annika felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle despite the muggy heat of the evening as she made her way surreptitiously across their 'garden', really just the strip of cleared land that separated their home from the ever encroaching forest. As she distractedly dumped the empty bucket by the water pump, she allowed herself a split-second glance over her shoulder and caught Chakotay watching her intently from the doorway. She was too distant to really be able to read his expression, but she thought she could see a concerned frown pulling down his strong brows. An unnerving rush of heat swept over her and the thud of her heartbeat through her tingling ears drowned out the steady glug of the pump reluctantly starting the process of dredging water up from the well. The clear, sweet water of the underground spring was, according to her father at least, like wine compared to the stale, woody river water. She glared pensively down at her feet, angered by both emotions that were at war within her; pleasure and fear. The idea that she could be so easily convinced by strangers irritated her, but the conclusion that feeling brought, that she was institutionalised, her mind confined to this planet and its few possibilities, filled her with nauseated shame. Fear however began to dominate as she remembered her father's request, it had to be done secretly for now, but, as she should've predicted if she were rational, when she risked glancing over at the house again, Chakotay had turned back inside. A flicker of disappointment flared within her, blinding her mind to all else for a moment before she snuffed it out with an agitated sigh.

She set the pump to its automated mechanism, a waste of power but right now she needed every spare moment that Captain Janeway and Chakotay would let pass without suspicion to do what had to be done. Checking the house for one last time, she sprinted to the tree line, only slowing when she spotted the well-trodden track over years of fallen leaves to what had been referred to over the years as 'Station No. 1'. It didn't deserve such an ominous name of course, the arrangement of dimly glowing, boxy components, plugged into power coils, transmitter relays and many the many other pieces of the puzzle that had kept the shield up and running, was only one of several they'd managed to scatter over the area. She'd been told that there were very few individuals who could navigate this, but thankfully she'd grown into one them. With a few memorised commands entered into the main console, and then the frequency she'd picked up from Chakotay and Janeway's devices, a high-pitched, droning buzz and the green shadow of the shield hanging above her for an instant before it disappeared again told her she'd done the technological aspect of her task in record time. Now for the diplomacy.

The short-range comm. system had been damaged in the most recent plasma storm, they'd agreed to prioritise repairing the shield over the more superfluous systems, but obviously they'd proved their usual efficient selves; the receiver she picked up crackled with lively static. "Station 1 to Station 2, please respond. Station 1 to Station 2, please respond. Annika Hansen calling…"

"Annika?" Annika grimaced, glad that the comm. line wasn't a visual one, as she recognised the voice. Nariella. The most long-winded and unfocused member of their group, though it would've been difficult for others to believe her so at first sight. "What's wrong?" She laughed softly, "Ready for another book recommendation from Lanitis?"

"Not today Nariella." Annika replied wearily, "I need to speak to Zuslan, it's urgent."

"Why?" Nariella demanded anxiously, "Zuslan is still occupied assisting Aina with her plan to salvage one of our warp coils for more basic power needs…"

"I need to talk to him Nariella." Annika cut her off impatiently, "My father would do it, but he is equally occupied right now."

Nariella became anxious, her next words tumbling loudly down the comm. line, "Your mother is worse isn't she? What do you need?"

"Mama is the same." Annika retorted sharply, the older woman's assumption hitting a continually sensitive nerve. "What is needed is for you to bring Zuslan to the comm. line." Her sigh echoed as Nariella fell silent at the other end. "Please comply!"

"Understood." Nariella finally muttered quietly, Annika's last rebuke knocking her out of her complacency.

Annika hunkered tiredly against a tree as she waited, her legs going weak with relief when she eventually heard Zuslan's reassuringly calm, almost monotone voice replacing Nariella's shrill one. "Annika? What exactly is amiss?"

"Zuslan…" She exhaled heavily, sinking down onto her knees as she cradled the receiver. "There are new people here." She rushed to explain before he could ask the questions she knew, as a leader, he would ask. "Two of them, a Starfleet Captain and her First Officer…"

"Starfleet?" Zuslan broke in, "That is improbable Annika. How do they explain their presence in the Delta Quadrant?"

Annika's mouth twisted wryly as she answered, "Is it any more improbable than my parents and I being here? Or any of you for that matter?" She was emboldened by hearing one of his rare chuckles in reply, "We haven't heard their full story yet, but apparently their vessel was pulled into the Delta Quadrant somehow, and they were travelling back home, but Captain Janeway decided to launch an away mission to this world for supplies. They contracted the virus and their crew had to leave them behind."

"Obviously they are truly unfamiliar with this region if they did not know about this planet's unique ecosystem…" Zuslan said disparagingly, Annika could practically see him shaking his head, "But such a predicament is not unknown, as you yourself have experienced it. It is…alarming that we did not detect their presence before you encountered them. Did they damage you, little one?"

"No." Annika assured him quickly, deciding to let the old pet name slip past unremarked upon. "I…I trust them Zuslan, and I believe they can come to understand your position too…in time. I would not have brought them home otherwise. As for not detecting them, Aina will remind you we don't have any scanning range beyond the shield, and what we do have is still damaged."

"Still, the others will be uneasy about the fact you were vulnerable. If we could risk leaving the protection of the shield ourselves…"

"You know that you can't, Papa and Mama have done all they can trying to deactivate the homing beacons completely but…" She trailed off sadly, "And I was not vulnerable, they don't know this place like I do." She heard Zuslan sigh and spoke more respectfully, "Papa wants your opinion on what should be done. We certainly won't tell them everything yet…"

"I agree that that would be unwise, but I will defer to your parents and your judgement in this matter Annika, for now at least, since you are the ones in direct contact with these people. However, I will inform the others to stay within the immediate area of our vessel until a decision has been made on how to proceed." Zuslan answered in a measured tone.

"Thank you Zuslan." Annika replied seriously, "I'll relay what you said to my parents." She then smiled as she remembered a promise she'd made to herself while making 'first contact' with Chakotay and Janeway. "Tell Lanitis his language lessons proved invaluable, Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay speak English."

"He will be proud without doubt, despite always reminding you that your Klingon accent is often insufficient."

"Well, my limited knowledge of Klingon proved irrelevant in this instance." Annika pointed out, "I must go Zuslan, but we'll stay in contact via this comm. line."

"That is acceptable for now, but be careful Annika." Zuslan told her with an unusual earnestness that made her swallow with new apprehension, there was a lot riding on how they dealt with this, most worryingly the fraction of peaceful security they'd managed to cobble together over the years.

"I will." She murmured, "Annika Hansen out."

* * *

><p>Kathryn almost dropped one of her precious vials of monkey blood sample as a droning buzz suddenly pierced her ears, reverberating through the wooden walls. "What was that?"<p>

"'That' was the shield frequency resetting, just as my daughter told you she was doing to do." Magnus Hansen answered drily, leaving behind Kathryn's cases of research to lean on his cane and rise slowly up from the floor to his feet. It was something of a shock to understand the man's voice after such a period of mutual unintelligibility, and despite his biting tone Chakotay could tell Annika's father was more at ease than he had been, his defensive stance relaxing into one of easy superiority.

"I'm glad we can really talk now, we certainly have a lot to discuss." Kathryn stated, standing her ground with just as much confidence.

"Yes." Erin broke in, shooting her husband a significant look, they didn't have the protection of communicating audibly in private anyone, but she was a daub hand at getting her point across to him in any situation. "We have so much to understand about each other beyond what a universal translator can provide."

Magnus moved to once again stand behind his wife's chair, his hand resting lightly on her bony shoulder. "I think we should probably start with the basics of our story, since Annika should be here to listen to yours."

Chakotay caught his drift, this man did not want them to lead Annika into any illusions about them. He was underestimating his daughter's perceptiveness there. If Kathryn got the hint, she politely ignored it. "Thank you." When Erin gestured for them to join her at the table, they both obediently took their seats, though Kathryn leaned eagerly over the table, penetrating their personal space. "Annika told us you're both exobiologists, explorers just like we are."

Erin smiled tiredly, nostalgically. "Yes. We both did our PhDs at Gothenburg University, that's where we met." She reached up and weakly squeezed her husband's quivering hand, "You'll never meet a more innovative or determined scientist in the field than Magnus."

"Or a more accomplished one than Erin." Magnus said pointedly, "Everyone said you were almost as crazy as I am to pursue my work."

"We've proved a hundred times over that you were right Magnus…"

"About my theories perhaps." Magnus cut her off shortly as he looked bitterly around the small, bare room, "But not my judgement." He murmured bitterly under his breath before he seemed to remember that this wasn't just a conversation with his wife and picked up the story in a detached tone, "Erin and I, we developed many theories about a species barely recognised as existing in the Alpha Quadrant, we spent our entire early careers together arguing with the Council of Exobiology that they were a vital object of not only biological but sociological study…I was a man obsessed."

"We relocated to Tendara IV, a scientific research colony in…"

"The Cardassian-Federation Demilitarised Zone." Chakotay finished Erin's sentence grimly, earning a warning glance from Kathryn, "I know it well."

Erin didn't react to his terse tone, "Annika was born there, in New Lausanne settlement, while we were narrowing down how to track and monitor our subjects." She breathed a soft sigh, "Just after she'd turned three, the Council gave the go-ahead for us to pursue a field mission, and offered us this ship, the U.S.S Raven."

Chakotay's eyes widened, "You took your three year old, a toddler, into uncharted space?"

"Yes." Erin answered him, meeting his gaze full on. "We thought it would be an unparalleled opportunity for her, and we didn't want to leave our baby behind to grow up without us."

"It's…unconventional, but so brave." Janeway told them honestly, "All of the breakthroughs in modern science were made by people like the two of you."

"Maybe." Magnus replied in a low tone, trailing off as he stalked to the back of the room, "But then I used to romanticise it too, look where it's got us."

"We have too many decisions to live with than you'd care to hear now." Erin told Janeway frankly, "But I'm sure you can understand that."

Kathryn shifted uncomfortably, "I certainly do." She admitted quietly, more than she'd ever conceded to Chakotay in his two years as her second-in-command, he realised with a flinch. "But tell us, which species could you be following that could bring you all the way to the Delta Quadrant?" Her eyes gleamed with rampant anticipation that left Chakotay ashamed, "They must be able to travel…"

"If you're thinking that piggy backing a ride with them will save your ship, don't." Magnus told her bluntly, "We managed it, for three years we were cocky, and then they pounced on us and we ended up stranded on this world. Our shield protects us from many things but those…people are the main threat."

He'd moved towards the door, and had obviously been intently listening for Annika's approach, for when she opened re-entered the house, carrying a burlap sack over her shoulder as well as a full bucket of water in one hand, he was at her side to hear her whisper, "Zuslan says he'll accept our judgement on them and stay away for now." Her father only squeezed her hand gratefully as she lowered the bucket to the floor before straightening up to say, more loudly and smiling, "Mama told me to prepare dinner for us all if I got the universal translators working." She said hastily, making her way towards the adjoining room with the sack, which, as she unhooked a tattered but clean apron from the wall and tied it around her slim waist, fell open enough for Chakotay to see that it contained a modest selection of what he assumed was vegetables. He seriously doubted they could spare the food, they'd hadn't indicated that any replicators they might once have had still worked.

"No Annika, you don't have to…" He began quickly.

"We want to." Erin interrupted firmly before cocking her head slightly at her daughter, "Don't we Annika?"

Annika ducked her head shyly, more than ready to retreat into the kitchen that was now, since her mother had sickened, entirely her domain. "It's not any trouble…as long as you don't mind that I didn't find any meat to bring home today."

Chakotay's eyebrows shot up. So that was why she'd at him? "Actually…" He chuckled, "I'm a vegetarian."

Annika blushed, realising the cause of his amusement, and disappeared into the other room and her father nodded approvingly, "That's one of the wiser decisions when living here." He looked at Janeway pointedly, "We only really get fish…and monkeys."

* * *

><p>Annika jumped, almost slicing her finger with her knife as she chopped the last of the vegetables for the stir fry she was making, as she heard footsteps behind her.<p>

"It's alright Anni, it's just me." Erin murmured softly, rubbing circles into her daughter's tight back.

Annika was instantly attentive, setting aside her preparations to turn to her mother. "Do you need help Mama?" she asked anxiously.

"I just need to talk to you. Leave the food for a few minutes and let's go to my room." Erin coaxed, frowning as she realised that she had to lean on Annika to walk rather than guide her daughter as she wished.

"Okay." Annika agreed quietly, almost lifting her mother's frail body as they made their way across what had once been the Raven's Bridge, where they'd built up their kitchen, to her parents' bedroom. "Did you want to know what Zuslan said about all this?"

Erin waved her off, "The three of us will discuss that later." She said simply, awkwardly rising from where Annika had set her down on the bed to wander to her wardrobe. "You like the two of them, don't you?"

"Yes, yes I do." Annika answered with a conviction which surprised her enough to make her confidence waver a second later, "Not that I have much experience with people."

Erin winced as if she'd slapped her, though she knew her daughter was just being as honest as ever and hadn't said it to rouse guilt from her. She felt enough of that without Annika's active input. "You doubt yourself too much Annika, why shouldn't you like them if they're telling us the truth?"

Annika stiffened, "We're not telling them the whole truth Mama."

"Not yet." Erin corrected, though more regret piled up in her eyes, "But I think they'll understand everything when the time comes to tell them. You believe that too, or you never would've followed Chakotay back to his camp."

"No…" Annika conceded ruefully, "But I was more curious than anything you'd consider particularly insightful." She added thoughtfully.

Erin continued to search through her wardrobe, studying Annika's distracted expression. "Chakotay is…a handsome man. It must've been a shock to meet him like that."

Annika took a step back, catching a glimpse of herself in vanity table's cracked mirror, her rapidly flushing, horribly scarred face… Her usual nervous habit of tugging her hair over the affected right side of her face intensified until she could hardly see through the veil of gold. "What are you getting at?" she asked shakily, again jumping in surprise when Erin grasped her wrists.

Erin's tearful face softened as she read Annika's startled expression, but she still moved to gently but deliberately sweep her hair entirely off her beloved face. "Don't hide your lovely face baby." She sighed and stepped away to pull a dress from the wardrobe. "Why don't you wear this tonight?"

The dress was the prize of Erin's remaining, seriously depleted collection. It was worn only on birthdays and anniversaries, and therefore its burgundy colour was unbleached by the planet's strong sun, the hem still intact. "That's yours Mama, Papa…"

"…bought for me before we left Tendara, I know the story Annika. I doubt he'd object to you wearing it. Besides…" She waved a hand over her shrunken frame, "I don't exactly have the figure for it anymore."

"Don't say that Mama." Annika mumbled, through as she ran her fingers over the hourglass cut dress' silken fabric, she knew it was true.

"Their coming could well be the blessing I've been hoping for Annika." Erin murmured, hugging her close.

"I doubt Chakotay and Captain Janeway would see it that way." Annika replied uneasily.

"No." Erin admitted, "But things happen for a reason. I'm not going to be here much longer…" She ignored Annika's painful flinch and persevered, "…and your father not a spring chicken either, I don't want you to be alone…"

"I won't be alone." Annika countered weakly, "I'll have Zuslan, Lanitis and the others, they care about me."

"Oh they do." Erin agreed emphatically, "But it's a familial love, there's more to life than that Annika, look at your father and I…"

Annika bristled, staring at her mother and then the dress in realisation. "No, I'm not wearing it." She declared abruptly, "I'm not a peacock or…or a dog in heat!" she snapped hotly, "I can't believe you're trying to force me on him within hours just…just because…"

"Our situation doesn't change the dynamics between men and women as much as you think Annika." Erin told her patiently, "He's going to be lonely too and he's already taken with you…"

"I need to finish our meal." Annika interrupted thickly, fleeing back to the kitchen.

**A/n: Please review. I hope this is okay, since I've not been feeling too well while writing it, sigh. **


	7. Holding Back and Letting In

**A/n: Warning, the latter half of this chapter is upsetting. I don't own Star Trek Voyager.**

* * *

><p>"Wow." Chakotay commented warmly, "These are impressive." He wasn't exactly an expert in topography, but his years in the Maquis had taught him the value of a good map, even an old-fashioned paper one. It had been more than a little surprising when, perhaps merely to diminish the need for conversation, Magnus Hansen had pulled out three long rolls of yellowing sheets from behind a dusty display case. Its dark interior, filled with metallic objects he'd no doubt have to look closely at to have any chance of identifying, was locked up tight behind still sturdy doors. The three maps he had unfurled at his fingertips were covered with detail worthy of the spider's web that the depictions of the surrounding land rivalled in complexity. The mountain range he'd observed far in the distance, its peaks directed up at the clouds like a raised fist, were obviously an unachievable goal, since though they were meticulously indicated in each map but were not graced with the handwritten notes that accompanied almost every other geographical point noted on each map. Even if he had been able to read Swedish, the annotations were as cramped as they were numerous. The oldest two, which he dated by the relative discolouration of the sheets, were dominated by the habitually distracted scrawl that for him was synonymous with scientists, while the newest with the crack still in the page, was written almost entirely in a more measured, pragmatic hand which he automatically assumed belonged to Annika.<p>

"Over 18 years in the making." Magnus replied, obviously pleased and in agreement with Chakotay.

Kathryn looked up from the PADDs that Magnus had also provided her with, thankfully programmed with translation software just as on Voyager. Although she had initially been the more eager to study the Hansens' collection when Magnus had suggested it, she now wore a pensive, tight-lipped expression. Chakotay knew her well enough to see that she was struggling not to become dispirited by this further evidence, proved by people who had lived through the transition, that they weren't going to be leaving this planet any time soon. "You've worked hard Dr Hansen, have gained a great deal of knowledge about this planet and its ecosystem. I…" She trailed off, glancing quickly at Chakotay, "I myself have been a little reluctant to explore."

"That's natural, you've been marooned and there's certainly a grieving process." Magnus told her softly, regarding her kindly as he sighed to himself, blue eyes crinkling at the corners with regret and resignation, Chakotay sensed this was the most honest the reserved man had been with them as yet. "Erin and I, we had to hit the ground running just to survive with Annika. From what I hear from Annika, your crew left you as comfortable as they could, so you two taking it slow is understandable." Though he said the first statement with some wry pride, his words about their situation were not bitter or judgemental, just pragmatic.

Kathryn gave him a weak but grateful smile before straightening in her chair, her next question one of professional curiosity. "I've been wondering Dr Hansen…"

"Magnus." The man now corrected, though he'd formal before. "With two Dr Hansens in the family, and a daughter who is fit for several doctorates, I think we'd better stick to first names on our side Captain."

"There'll be no ranks for us then." Kathryn echoed the sentiment quickly, "What I was going to ask _Magnus_ is, what did you do with your ship's warp core? You obviously have a source of power, but surely the core was too unstable after the crash…"

"Undoubtedly it would've been, yes." Magnus agreed, "But we ejected the Raven's warp core when we knew for sure we were going to crash, partly in an attempt to…distract our pursuers."

Chakotay took 'distract' to mean attack. It was a last ditch tactic Maquis vessels had been known to deploy, ejecting the warp core and destroying it to disable Cardassian vessels in the inevitable explosion, much as he had done when he'd flown the Valjean into the flank of that Kazon freighter. "And did 'distracting' these pursuing vessels work?"

Magnus' eyes skimmed over the spartan room in which they sat. "Evidently not." He said drily, gripping the edge of the table to propel himself into a standing position. "We just had to get rather creative with the systems we had left."

Chakotay's eyes, against his will, riveted on the older man's empty trouser leg. Forcing himself to look contritely back at the maps, another question sprang to his lips. "You didn't lose your leg in that initial crash did you?" His stomach tightened in warning, "I only ask because there are three different people's handwriting on these maps in places…"

"You're right Commander." Magnus answered, either forgetting or ignoring Kathryn's dismissal of rank, "I started those maps in the early days. After the crash, thankfully, I was still a relatively young and healthy man, much like you are. I actually lost the leg in an accident while building the newest extension to this house. It was seven years ago now, just after Annika had turned seventeen."

Kathryn recognised a pointed comment when she heard it, mostly because she'd once also been a headstrong young woman with an overprotective father, just as Annika evidently was. She'd have to get around to probing Chakotay's intentions herself, since she saw him stiffen with the same awareness in the corner of her eye. "So…she's twenty four then?" she asked carefully.

Magnus started to nod the affirmative before the sound of laboured breathing behind him made him turn around to see Erin staggering into the room, her face pallid and sweating. "Erin!"

Annika appeared in a blink of an eye at her mother's back before her father could begin to hobble over or before Chakotay and Kathryn could fully get out from behind the table to help, looking frustrated as well as stricken. "Mama! You shouldn't…"

"I know Annika." Erin waved her off tiredly, but was too weak to do anything but submit when Annika slung her mother's thin arm around her own shoulders and half carried her over to a makeshift recliner, avoiding her mother's knowing eyes as she cocooned her in a ragged edged but still thick blanket.

Annika rose up on shaking legs from her kneeling position on the floor cosseting her mother, briskly brushing herself off as she glanced over at the table, still strewn with maps and PADDs, while avoiding the newcomers' gaze even more determinedly. "Clear the table please Papa." She instructed sharply, "I'm about to serve dinner."

Magnus looked between his wife and daughter uneasily, but gained nothing enlightening from either. "Of course." He agreed obligingly, only to see that Chakotay was already putting the clutter aside. Annika had turned back into the kitchen as soon as she'd issued her orders and hadn't waited to see who would carry them out, and Magnus found that left him relieved.

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><p>Their meal was plated up on the familiar grey metallic dining set that was ubiquitous on Voyager and indeed had been on all Federation vessels since time immoral. What Annika was served was much more appreciated, a tender, well seasoned vegetable stir-fry. Understandably, many of the ingredients were unidentifiable to the two uninitiated guests, but the alien greens were as tasty in Annika's combination as anything either of them had known, as were the many other more vibrant additions, varying in look from something similar to an aubergine to a pulse that could be mistaken for chickpeas. The smell alone excited Chakotay's taste buds, which had been numbed over the weeks by his own utilitarian meals. At least, unlike Kathryn's one attempt early on in their stay, his efforts had been edible, but he had a feeling he'd struggle to fight the urge to wolf down Annika's creation. However, before he could lift his cutlery, Magnus took the initiative and lifted his glass of dark blue fruit juice, of which they all had a tall glass, into the air. "Skål!"<p>

"Skål!" Erin and Annika automatically echoed, Erin with more cheer than her daughter, though it was Annika who smirked slightly behind her glass at the deer-in-the-headlights expression reflected on both Chakotay and Kathryn's faces. "Cheers." She murmured.

"Sk…" Both Chakotay and Kathryn tried, though they quickly gave up and shamefacedly reverted to Annika's translation as the Swedes all chuckled good-naturedly, "Cheers!"

Chakotay sipped at the juice and smiled at once. "Very nice." He said approvingly, "It reminds me of something though…"

"It should." Annika replied, "One of the berries I use for this juice grows in abundance near your camp."

His eyebrows shot up, "Those bitter little purple berries? I found those inedible!"

Erin laughed, though the sweet sound soon lapsed into a raspy cough. "That's why it needs to be combined with the juice of three other native fruits to be palatable. Annika is very good at getting the balance just right."

"You invented it Mama." Annika countered in embarrassment.

"Yes." Magnus said shortly before turning his attention wholly on their guests. "Captain, Commander, you were going to tell us about your journey?"

Kathryn swallowed her first mouthful of stir-fry before answering warmly, "We'd be glad to." She proceeded to give a tailored version of their history on Voyager while they ate, with Chakotay only contributing occasional humorous detail, since he felt uncomfortable that the Maquis factor was carefully left out by his former Captain. Not that he really wanted to discuss politics, so he didn't quibble with her. Instead of focusing on the well-known, if edited, tale, he zeroed in on the Hansens' reactions. Magnus and Erin were as engaged, curious and generally sympathetic as he'd expected them to be, but Annika surprised him. She was obviously listening, her alert stance told him that, but her gaze was distant and she was almost hermetically silent, only speaking if one of her parents' prompted her. She was aloof, verging on haughty, almost as if her manner suddenly reflected her cool Nordic beauty. Realising this saddened him, since he suspected it wasn't natural for her, even when she'd been at her most wary with him early on, she'd been bright and articulate. He suspected the reason as he watched her anxious, weary eyes flick constantly back to her mother, she was continually on edge. The memory of that feeling, engrained in his mind, made him reluctant to focus on Erin too seriously. With his last, satisfying forkful of stir-fry, he tried to draw her out. "Thank you Annika, that was a wonderful meal. I haven't eaten like that since I left Voyager."

Kathryn mirrored Chakotay's appreciative smile, "Probably the best in awhile even with Voyager taken into account. Our chef Neelix's cooking is an acquired taste after all, especially his coffee substitute!"

Magnus chuckled, "I'm getting the impression coffee is pretty important to you."

"That's an understatement." Janeway admitted, "Once, when looking for a power supply early on in our journey, I said, 'There's coffee in that nebula!'"

Chakotay started to laugh along with the Hansen couple but stopped when he saw Annika soundlessly clearing up the plates. "I'll help you wash up…"

"No!" Annika said sharply, flushing as she heard her own tone, "Really, I'm used to doing it." She mumbled, snatching up the last of the dishes and disappearing through into the kitchen.

Chakotay hovered for a few minutes before suddenly deciding to follow her. Kathryn saw what he intended to do and shot him a warning look, but he ignored her. He expected to see Annika in the kitchen, which was part of the old ship, but when he left the wooden extension that was the porch/dining room he saw that there was another door to the outside built into the connecting corridor and Annika was standing in what served as their garden, washing dishes in a wooden basin perched on a ladder as an outdoor sink. He watched her obliviously at work for a moment before stepping outside. "Hey." He said softly.

Annika didn't even glance at him over her shoulder, instead bending to add additional water to the basin from a kettle that she'd carried out from the kitchen. "I don't need any help Commander."

"Sorry, I was raised to believe that the cook never cleans, it's pretty engrained." Chakotay replied wryly, tactfully ignoring her use of his now defunct rank, "I just thought I'd make one last offer."

Annika hesitated for a moment. "I'm fine." She reiterated.

Chakotay sighed as he warily approached her, "That's the problem, I don't think you are."

Annika's back stiffened before the scrubbing sound intensified. Chakotay had to wonder if she was rubbing her already scarred hands raw in the hot water. Her own sigh had the weight of the world behind it. "It's just…" He was close enough to her now to see her swallowing in the twilight, "My mother, she has certain…expectations and I believe they're unrealistic."

Chakotay bit his lip sorrowfully as her words brought back memories of his father. However, he suspected Annika's fears came from a deeper source than his own teenage angst. "How sick is she?"

Annika stilled abruptly, "She has a month…maybe six weeks." She whispered, "its cancer."

"Cancer?" Chakotay echoed, "But that was cured over…"

The plate Annika was holding splashed violently into the basin as she spun to face him, her whole face taut with impotent rage as well as grief. "Does it look like we have a hospital around here?" she snarled hoarsely, "We…We didn't even realise until it had spread so much that we couldn't identify where it started." She choked out, "She…She…"

"I know." Chakotay whispered, "And I do understand, my mother died of a brain aneurysm when I was thirteen."

Annika somehow paled further, guilt as well as grief consuming her striking face. "I'm sorry." She murmured faintly, compassion replacing her spurt of anger as tears began to flow.

Chakotay blinked back tears of his own, "She was in a coma for two days and it was…hell. I can't imagine what you're going through."

"I would not wish it on my worst enemy." Annika admitted before shutting the discussion down by handing him a soapy plate, her whole body shaking. "I think I need that help after all."

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><p><strong>An: Please review. Thanks to The Cheshire Cheese for reminding me about this story as well as writing the amazing one-shot 'Time Enough', every C/7 fan should read it! Same goes for cojack's new story, 'Les Exilés', fans of 'The Gift' will especially love it because it's C/7 but Maquis focused. **


	8. Honest Secrets

**A/n: I do not own Star Trek: Voyager. Thanks once again to The Cheshire Cheese for letting me use her C/7 artwork as story covers. The links to her Star Trek Deviant Art gallery are on my profile page.**

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><p>"You've surprised me…" Annika gave a start as Chakotay immediately lifted his gaze up from the plate he was scrubbing intently to shoot her an enquiring look. She hadn't really spoken to gain his attention; in fact she muttered the words almost to herself, but to break the deepening silence. It irritated her that he seemed content to do as she'd asked and help her clean the dishes, she was starting to think she'd prefer blind, pitying platitudes to this understanding silence where her thoughts were allowed to echo deafeningly through her mind. Guilt that she'd lashed out, assumed that she was the only one who'd ever lost, no was in the process of losing a parent, anger mixed with relief that he'd been presumptuous enough to guess that situation and press for intimacy over it… She realised she'd left her statement hanging, and since she'd never been sure where she'd been going with it, she hurriedly tacked on an ending, "I never would've thought that a Starfleet Commander would have much experience in dishwashing." Her teeth bit her pursed lips as she realised how snarky and judgemental the comment sounded, rather than the teasing effect she'd decided on too late.<p>

Chakotay smiled wanly, letting whatever ammunition had been in the loaded comment go over his head. He knew enough about grief to know that she was merely distracting herself as well as him, and God help her she needed any distraction she could get. Since she'd unburdened herself, though he was under no illusion that she'd confided everything, and taken him on as assistant dishwasher, she'd leaned on the barrel of water for support rather than make use of it, her gaze absent. The wind had picked up around them, the sky which had been melting into twilight was now bruised black and blue, brooding above, but Annika had been as unaware of that as she had been of him beside her. "I wasn't lying when I said that it was a rule in my house that the cook never cleans." He reminded her, "Besides that, my parents also believed in menial punishment much more than they did a recycler."

Annika's eyes, still swollen and rimmed with red, narrowed slightly. "I can't imagine you doing anything worthy of such _terrible _punishment." She remarked with dry, mocking sarcasm, encouraged as he chuckled nostalgically, "Did you harvest a neighbour's fruit trees without permission?"

"Every summer." Chakotay admitted with a wink, "But none of those nice old neighbours ever shot at me with a phaser or else I never would've taken my friends up on the bet..." Annika replied to the dig with a good-natured, if hoarse, laugh and he sighed in relief, "In all seriousness though, life on Voyager wasn't always as comfortable as the designers intended, nor as hierarchical as Starfleet would like, being a Commander doesn't…didn't isolate me." He swallowed has he heard the defensive note in his voice.

"I never thought you would let it." Annika assured him quietly, then added self-consciously, "I mean…how could that ever have worked on a stranded ship? You'd have had to work together otherwise…" She trailed off awkwardly.

"We would've killed each other?" Chakotay finished for her.

Annika coloured, but then took the lead from his frank tone. "I was going to say that 'the ship would've torn itself apart', but yes."

"You're right. The crew came close to falling apart, more than once." Chakotay admitted darkly, then tried to summon up a weak smile even as he wondered how the crew were coping under Tuvok's wise but inflexible guidance, "Although the ship did actually concertina in on itself during one incident, and split itself in two in another…"

Annika's lips shakily turned up to return the smile, "The Captain can regale us with those stories and more for many more dinners then?"

"You'll feel like you've been on Voyager yourself if Kathryn has anything to say about it." He told her wryly, "Eventually we'll likely know everything there is to know about each other." He saw at once that Annika looked uncomfortable, but he couldn't quite regret the words, this girl intrigued him, and not just because he'd been rejected by Kathryn in favour of a monkey.

"Aren't some secrets excusable, even between friends?" Annika asked pensively, watching him out of the corner of her eye as she carefully stacked up the last of the plates.

Now it was Chakotay's turn to feel uncomfortable. He wasn't ashamed of the Maquis, and hoped he never would be, but he was very conscious of the fact that he and Kathryn had purposefully hidden much of Voyager's past. "Of course." He assured her, "We all have a right to that, whether this planet has five people living on it or five million." He heard her sigh, even over the increasingly boisterous gusts of wind, and gently touched her chilled arm, "I won't tell Kathryn about your mother if you don't want me to."

Annika shivered, though she couldn't blame it on the cold that had descended. If only he knew what kind of secrets to which she'd really been referring, events and decisions that would make him turn away from her in disgust rather than look on her with kindness. "Captain Janeway not knowing that facts won't change them." She finally concluded in a brittle tone as she splashed her face with water to clear away the tears prickling at her eyes again. She recoiled as she felt a familiar charge disturbing the water, Chakotay reaching out to steady her by the elbow. "We have to get back inside." She said forcefully, not hesitating in gathering everything up even as she was met with his bemused expression. "There's going to be a plasma storm tonight. I'm sorry, I should've noticed before…"

Chakotay nodded slowly. Now that she'd pointed it out, he could indeed sense the static in the air, could almost taste it. "Plasma storms directly affect the atmosphere here?"

"You've seen it before?" Annika asked in surprise, taking one last regretful glance at her garden, the wind was already shredding the flowering plants and tossing the debris about gleefully. Hopefully the greenhouse would withstand this one at least. "Papa and Mama say it's very rare on M class planets."

"They're right!" Chakotay had to shout now as they sprinted back the short distance to the doorway, "I've never even heard of it on an M class, but I've had to lie low on a few planets of lesser classification before now!"

If they'd been safe and sound inside at that moment Annika might have questioned why he'd ever had to lie low, her father had his suspicions, but right now she focused on finding refuge from the weather which worsened with every passing second. She'd hardly stepped over the threshold with Chakotay behind her when she was met with Janeway's frantic expression, tricorder in hand, as well as her parents' waiting impatiently. "I'm picking up a massive plasma storm right above us!" Janeway exclaimed, "We have to…"

"Wait it out." Magnus cut her off, "This is an average sized storm for this world, but even that can kill. None of us will be walking out that door until it passes over."

"But Papa, you know how much damage could be done to the shield if its struck with a plasma charge while its active…" Annika protested.

"Not as much damage as could be done to you if you go out in that." Magnus told her in a voice that brooked no argument.

"How long will this storm last in your experience?" Janeway demanded wearily with a glance out the window, grimacing as she saw a spike of hot pink plasma energy splay out over tumultuous skies like lightning on steroids.

"We should stay in all night to be on the safe side." Erin answered calmly, "We'll make room for you to be as comfortable as possible, since we'll all have to squeeze into the Raven." Janeway was perplexed for a second, then remembered that the room in which she stood, as was the case for everything that had grown out of the Hansen's fallen ship, was constructed out of simple roughhewn logs.

Magnus saw her face pale and smiled grimly, "Don't worry, this place hasn't burned down yet. Out of this house and your Starfleet certified shelter, I'd stay here anytime."

"Magnus!" Erin interjected warningly, looking over at their two house guests apologetically, "I'm sure your shelter will be fine, but for now you're welcome here." Taking her daughter's offered arm, though really Annika had to half carry her, she set off in the lead until the dark, narrow corridors gave way to what had obviously once been the Raven's Bridge, with dead, dusty consoles dominated by a shattered viewscreen, but it had also obviously been converted into a makeshift kitchen, presumably where Annika had cooked their meal. A battered but clean couch had been dragged over to sit against the one wall on which there was neither console nor door.

"You can take my bedroom Captain." Annika suggested, briefly leaving her mother's side to head towards one particular door, "Chakotay will have to take the couch."

Janeway shook her head, "No, it's not fair to ask you to give up your room Annika. One of us will take the couch and one of us will take the floor…"

"I'd be in my parents' room anyway." Annika insisted, "Mama needs me at night."

Kathryn blanched a little at that, catching Chakotay giving Annika a fleeting, anxious glance before shooting her a warning one. That was enough for her to conclude that Erin required nursing, but perhaps pride also fuelled the insistence, their house was simple, but it was good enough for any guest worth having. "Okay." She agreed carefully, "If you're sure."

Annika exchanged a quick glance with her mother, who nodded encouragingly. "I wouldn't have offered otherwise." She stated simply.

"We'll wait for you in our room Annika." Erin told her gently, "All the windows have already been shuttered and the doors locked, haven't they Magnus?"

"Yes, already done." Magnus agreed gruffly, now taking his turn, despite his own dependence on his crutch, to help a rapidly fading Erin through the nearest door without so much as a goodnight to either of his unexpected house guests.

Annika sighed as they left, her gaze lingering anxiously on their departing figures before she gave herself a light shake and headed towards her own room. "Come on Captain, I'll bring you through bedding Chakotay."

Kathryn followed Annika into the awkwardly shaped but relatively spacious bedroom, immediately struck by traces of a lost girlhood in the room. The segments of wall sandwiched between the usual grey bulkheads had once been painted a sugary pink, though the paint had mostly peeled off, and the worn carpet hadn't been entirely bleached of its lilac tone. The white pine bookcases, though stuffed with academic reading material worthy of her own quarters on Voyager, were built to a child's height, as was almost everything in the room, including the bed. Kathryn had to wonder, since Annika stood at least a full head and shoulders above her, if the young woman could still fit in it at all, let alone comfortably. The bedspread was pink and yellow, with a ballerina pattern. Annika must've seen, or expected, the shock on her face, but she merely shrugged dismissively as she obligingly put a clean pillowcase on the bed's pillow. "This place was last decorated at Deep Space Six during the ship's last retrofit." She explained, "I was three. My tastes have changed a little, but I'm so used to it…" She trailed off ruefully.

"Don't worry about it." Kathryn assured her awkwardly.

Annika moved distractedly to the wardrobe, pulling out a spare duvet, blankets and a pillow for Chakotay, turning to leave the room with her face almost hidden by the pile of bedding. "Good night."

"Good night." Kathryn echoed as she perched on the edge of the bed, swallowing hard. "I'm sorry about your mother."

She saw Annika's grip on the bed turn white-knuckled even as she couldn't see her face. "Me too." The girl choked out thickly before turning on her heel and sweeping out of the room.

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><p>The rain dragged out of the heavy clouds by the plasma storm hit the Raven's hull like bullets, each thud in time with the throbs of Magnus' stump as he lay in the false safety of his bed. Where sleep was normally improbable, now it was impossible, but it was Erin's shallow, struggling breaths beside him which preoccupied his ears. "Erin…" He whispered, "I'll get you painkillers, sedatives, anything you want…"<p>

Erin's answering sigh was so long he trembled with fear that she wouldn't take another breath, but thankfully she spoke as her stick thin limbs poked against his more substantial body, fragile as twigs. He closed his eyes, trying to remember back when she'd been all full, supple, silky flesh, when her heart had beat strongly with his. "We're running low, the replicator's on its last legs…" She croaked out.

"If those people out there are good for anything, they'll give us more meds tomorrow." Magnus told her tightly, finding her hand in the darkness and caressing it. To squeeze it, cling to her as he wished, would only hurt her. "Give yourself a good night's sleep."

A single, bitter laugh left Erin's barely parted lips. "I'll sleep forever soon enough, I'll stay awake." She felt him press a tear-stained face into her shoulder and relented, "I'm alright really. It's Annika I don't want to wake…"

Magnus propped himself up on his elbow to look over her, peering in the dark. "She's asleep?" he murmured in surprise. Annika had been the most insomniac of them all since Erin had sickened, sometimes he had to think back to when she was a tiny baby in his arms to remember her sleeping peacefully.

Erin nodded weakly against the pillow as she forced her failing eyes to focus on the heap on the floor beside her, Annika, curled up in a duvet, a pillow pulled halfway over her head which didn't obscure the heavy frown buried deep into her scarred brows even in sleep. "She's so unhappy Magnus…"

Magnus stiffened. "Don't you think I know that? Don't you know that I wish everyday that we'd agreed to leave her with Irene, or even, damn him, my father?"

Erin managed, with a lot of effort to turn her body to face her husband. "I'm not blaming you Magnus, it's too late for that and at the same time I blame myself. Only Annika is innocent in this situation…" She stopped, her tone changing abruptly, "You said you'd give what I wanted, what I needed?"

Magnus blinked in confusion, "I've always tried to give you that Erin, but especially now."

"Well then, what I need you to do is to let things be. Let things with Annika and these people run their course."

She felt his jaw lock against her, "I'll do what's best for Annika."

"We've never been particularly good at judging that have we?!" Erin snapped, again struggling to catch her breath for a moment. "For God's sake Magnus, this is a miracle, don't damn her to being alone…"

"I _don't _want her to be alone, but I won't have her being taken advantage of!" Magnus hissed back, "Like you said, she's innocent! Why should I throw her to a man with 15 or 20 years on her, who'd just use her because she younger and more beautiful than his 'Captain' without the superiority complex? She's worth more than that, this isn't the Stone Age! She deserves to be loved, worshipped as a Queen, she won't feel like that when she's one of two choices!"

"It's better that than to have not loved at all!" Erin shot back.

"She did, have you forgotten Axum?" Magnus said sharply. "Do you want her to hurt like that again?"

"That was almost ten years ago." Erin said tearfully, "His cortical node failed, and you know that will happen to the others before Annika even into her thirties…" Her voice broke, "Why don't you understand that I can't leave things as they are?"

Magnus hugged her to him, "Erin, I know you don't want to leave us, don't want Annika left alone, but even this Chakotay won't fully compensate. You can't protect her or me from the grief…"

"But it might help, in time if not at first." Erin pressed, "We've helped each other through so much Magnus, don't deny our daughter at least a chance to have what we've had in each other. We've stolen so much else from her…"

"I know." Magnus admitted thickly, "She's a grown woman now, if…if she decides she wants him or anyone or anything else, I won't stop her."

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><p><strong>An: PLEASE REVIEW! This chapter was a lesson in persevering through writers' block, I hope its okay. Here are some other C/7 stories based around the episode 'Resolutions'. **

'**Out of New Earth' by cojack: Part of the 'Alternatives' series of C/7 AUs. Eight years after becoming stranded on New Earth, and five years after a Borg Cube crashed to join them there, Chakotay, Janeway and the drones, including Seven of Nine, find a way to escape…**

'**Rescuing Chakotay' by NikkiB1973: Frustrated over Kathryn's determination to isolate herself, Chakotay leaves their shelter and flees into the forest, where he finds his saviour…**


	9. One Night, One Day

**A/n: Warning, this chapter contains depiction of serious injury. I do not own Star Trek: Voyager.**

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><p>Her head throbbed threateningly, she could taste sweet, metallic blood trickling into her mouth as her mind returned to consciousness, her lips parting reflexively for a gasp of air. At once, she coughed, more breathless than ever as her lungs dragged in acrid smoke, plasma particles and air thick with fire retardant foam. "Magnus! Magnus!" Instead of the scream her mind willed, her voice was little more than a hoarse whisper. Smoke inhalation, she concluded dimly as her eyes adjusted to what light there was; an eerie glow from the flames gradually being snuffed out by the foam, the flicker of red warning lights from consoles which seemed far distant whose fuses hadn't blown.<p>

Whatever her hands were resting on, she couldn't tell whether it was the floor or ceiling in this twisted scene, was heating up, almost singeing her palms. It was that pain alone which roused her from the supine sprawl of just lying where she'd fallen up onto her knees, then onto shaky feet. Another throb from her head. A ceaseless ringing in her ears. What had happened? A plasma storm…a _crash_… The screaming that suddenly filled this new world almost knocked her back down onto her knees, drowning out the ringing in her ears as artillery fire would drown out church bells. The sound was so agonising that at first she thought, no, she _wanted_ to think, that it was some poor animal in its death throes, no person could produce such a cry, it was unimaginable. Mindlessly, her hands started to lift to her ears to block it out.

"Erin!" The voice was as husky and broken as her own, but desperate adrenaline gave it the clarity of the cracking of a whip. "We're over here!"

"Magnus?" she forced out, flooded with the false joy of hysteria as she staggered blindly towards her husband's voice. The effect of coming closer was comparable to being doused in ice water; she started to shake uncontrollably as she saw what lay ahead. Magnus had somehow crawled to the only undamaged console, its activity backlit his harrowed face. The face that gleamed an unnatural, raw red under a grimy layer of soot. Tear tracks scarred that cover of soot from his eyes down to his chin, he'd been crying, was still crying, his crouched body was convulsing with soundless sobs.

His blue eyes were owl-like, lost and unblinking as he stared at her. "The console she was hiding under was the first to blow. I tried to pull her away…"

"_No_!" Erin cried out despairingly, spurred to run now, "Annika…" The certainty in that instant that her daughter was dead, as well as what her eyes tried to refuse to see, would haunt her dreams until her dying day. This crumpled creature could _not _be her beautiful, vibrant little girl. It was only when she saw a scrap of the child's nightgown she herself had replicated, melted to the skin, that she swayed, collapsing to the floor as her mind mercilessly, with sanity preserving detachment, began to catalogue the injuries. Where Magnus' burns were the fiery, angry tone of flashburns, Annika's skin was a dark, blood coloured crimson, almost black. The fire had ravaged her left side, any trace of her nightgown was gone there, her leg was horribly burned in patches that spread from foot to hip joint, with the red strips that had 'escaped' direct contact knitting the peeling sections together. Her arm was, if possible, even worse, exposed to the muscle, the grey, colourless fragments of whatever skin remained flaking and peeling; it was as if her arm was unravelling. The left side of her head looked as if it had been shaved, the roots withered by flame, leaving behind a grotesque punk hairstyle when most of her luxuriant, golden locks on the right side of her scalp were still intact, though brittle as straw. Her face had not been left untouched, on the right side of her face, perhaps where boiling plasma had dripped, heat had consumed her entire eyebrow and gouged an opening down her cheekbone and jawline. The reddened lid of her right eye was scrunched closed, perhaps never to be opened again.

However, at the sound of her mother's stricken cry the victim moved. A croaking, strangled scream, it was somehow quieter now than when, in her concussed state, Erin had first heard it, left the caved-in chest, then a whimper as the left eye opened. She was alive. Her face was a blank mask of agony and terror but she was alive. "Annika! Baby, oh God…my baby…" Erin choked out, having to stuff one hand practically in her mouth to make the cry anything less than a scream as she saw a flicker of recognition in Annika's eyes, a plea for relief. It took all of her willpower, every bit of maternal instinct, to keep her rooted there instead of recoiling from the sight and the nauseating smell of burnt flesh. "Mama's here…Mama's got you baby…" She reached out to touch her, to cradle her in her arms, but Annika seized with the pain of touch, screaming weakly, her throat rasping over a sob, then a moan.

Magnus had set his lips in a grim line, biting the inside of his cheek until it was a bloody mess and his teeth were cracking. "We have to get out of here Erin."

Erin stared at him uncomprehendingly, "But you ejected the warp core…didn't you?" She was having trouble recalling anything about her life, let alone the Raven's last few minutes of flight.

"Yes, but there's still plenty in here that could explode." Magnus explained harshly, "And so much smoke…Annika needs to be outside." Those words verged on traitorous, because the logical part of his brain that denial couldn't quite silence told him that smoke inhalation would be a kinder death than shock or infection that was undoubtedly already stalking Annika. He suppressed that knowledge, instead forcing his eyes to squint through the hazy semi-darkness. "There's a panel lying over there we can use as a stretcher." He declared through gritted teeth, "Hurry and try and put my arm back in its socket and we'll carry her out."

"A…A stretcher?" Erin echoed dumbly, then, as she followed his agitated gaze, she saw the object he meant. It was the back panel that normally hid the plasma conduits under the consoles from view, sheared off by massive force but otherwise, perhaps by some dark miracle, it had maintained its flat, broad shape. All that Erin could really see though was that it was singed and so layered with grime that would've made it unfit for a Ferengi scrap yard, let alone for carrying her injured child to safety. "No, no…I'll…I'll carry her…" She started to mumble incoherently, the words dying in her throat as she looked down at Annika again and realised what her husband already knew. Annika would never be able to take being carried, even by the steadiest of hands, which hers certainly weren't right now. They'd be lucky if she could tolerate being placed on the panel. "Oh God Magnus…" she whispered tearfully.

"I know älskling." He murmured thickly, "I think there's an emergency medical kit under the chair at the comm."

"Yes!" Erin remembered manically, "Yes, I packed it myself. There are hyposprays and a dermal regenerator and sterile bandages…" Recalling something helpful restored her inborn sense of drive and purpose and she immediately set off to where the comm. should be. Within a metre she collided with the upturned chair, and her frantic hands soon found the med kit, though she didn't think of the consequences of its broken seal as she dragged it back to her family. Her eyes had a glint of maddened triumph as she glanced up at Magnus' face, but perspective soon crashed back down on her aching head. Magnus' right arm was contorted into a position that turned her already churning stomach. The ball joint say almost vertical in front of the socket. It seemed as if only a few taut threads of muscle were keeping his arm connected to his body. "Magnus, your arm!"

Magnus grimaced, not bothering to remind her that he'd already told her of the injury. In the minutes before she'd regained consciousness, he hadn't been aware of it himself. "You took first aid training, just pop it back in." He instructed as nonchalantly as he could.

"But I only practised on holograms, and never on such a bad dislocation…" Erin started to argue but then stopped herself. They'd known from the beginning of this journey that they'd only have each other to rely on, she couldn't abandon that now that the worse had come to pass. There was no other option. "Alright." She agreed brusquely, snapping the med kit fully open and finding the most potent hypospray. "Annika, sötnos…" She murmured next to her daughter's unscarred ear, "Mama's going to have to prick you, but the medicine will help." She found the carotid artery, bulging out of the girl's white neck, and emptied the entire adult dose into her. She couldn't consider the dose reckless, not now with Annika in such pain. Her daughter, normally wary of hyposprays and tantrum prone if forced to endure one, didn't react at all. Erin saw Magnus watched and saw his face fall further, but she didn't and couldn't acknowledge her fear now. "Your turn." She told him cheerlessly as she prepared another hypospray and knelt at his side to repair it. His good hand gripped her thigh for support, cutting off her blood supply, as she struggled to angle the arm properly, but he prove true to his nonchalance and only allowed himself muttered grunts during the three attempts it took her before she heard that clean, satisfying pop.

Magnus didn't give himself more than a second to recover before he was up on his feet and heading for the emergency hatches, yanking every one open before he found one that met solid ground rather than open air. "We're in a crater." He growled in frustration as he heard Annika scream again, Erin having risked bundling her in her baby blanket and carrying her the few steps to the panel that was their makeshift stretcher. "Can you sedate her?" he asked pleadingly, "We're going to have to walk up the slope…"

"I can't, it'll compromise her breathing. Even the painkiller was dangerous…" Erin explained helplessly. She couldn't calculate the percentage of burns to Annika's body, but the child's breathing was so loud, a painful rasping struggle, that she knew there must be internal burns too, at least to her throat and lungs.

Magnus couldn't speak and instead, despite his shoulder, bent to grab his end of the panel with both hands. Their progress out of the Raven was slow, mercifully Annika briefly fainted during the torturous shuffle out of the crater, but came round with a groan as her parents, unable and unwilling to put her through any more for the sake of a few metres, lowered the panel to the ground before sinking to the wet grass on their knees. The missile that had been the falling Raven had punched a hole in the dense tree cover above them, and through it, like a hellish kaleidoscope, they could see tainted, putrid smoke, first grey then black, billowing over from the east as a visual accompaniment to the determined, ravenous crackling of not too distant flames. "The Cube has crashed too." Magnus decided, panting hard, "They're worse off, didn't even have a chance to attempt a landing…"

"Good riddance!" Erin snarled viciously as she tried to attend to Annika, soothe her with the moisture off the damp grass.

Magnus ignored her, peering eastwards as he speculated. "They probably lost their connection with the Collective in the storm, that's the only explanation…" He was shocked to see the hatred burning in Erin's eyes, directed wholly at him, as he turned back to her.

"You're still thinking of them, your pet project, your _obsession_…" She spat out in disgust, "Even as you own _daughter_ lies here dying you're still preoccupied with them! If she sprouted implants over these burns, then she'd get your full attention…"

"I don't remember you discouraging me before now!" Magnus exploded in a hoarse yell, "Which one of us bothered to explain to Annika where we were going? It wasn't you! Who just dragged her out of the flames…"

Annika's whimper of distress silenced the vindictive, mindless argument at once and transformed Magnus' retort into violent, gulping sobs as Erin lay down beside her daughter and wept brokenly. Soon they were clutching each other just to be able to breathe. "It _does _matter Erin." Magnus eventually forced out, "If there are some drones who've survived, who are free of the Collective, they could help us, one of them could be a doctor…"

Erin heard this rambling as the wishful thinking out loud that it was. "Even if they are individuals again, they'll be amnesiac at best and insane at worst. And if they're not individuals…"

"We need to find out." Magnus finished sharply, "I need to go and check it out, any drones in such a desperate situation would assimilate us all. If they're an immediate threat we need to know so we can move Annika…"

"Moving her again will kill her!" Erin cried out, beyond the point where she could consider being anything but cruelly blunt.

Magnus swallowed hard, but still stood up. "All the more reason to know how we can keep her safe here. Knowing where the Borg are is the main part of that." He realised, as the words left his mouth, what he had to do and headed single-mindedly into the forest. His sanity, hollowed out by grief, guilt and desperation, utterly blocked out Erin's screams, filled with hurt and rage, ordering then beseeching him to come back.

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><p>Chakotay had departed somewhat from the traditional 'counting sheep' method and was instead trying to keep count of the plasma blasts, similar to thunder claps, that were interspersed between the swollen raindrops slapping continually against the roof over his head. It wasn't working. He wasn't even sure anymore if he wanted it to work, when he had earlier slipped into a shallow sleep, he'd been assaulted by old nightmares. Hearing of Erin's illness had stirred up memories of his own mother's too short life and sudden death. He didn't regret urging Annika to unburden herself to him, in fact these memories served to remind him just how powerful and poignant a confidence she'd entrusted him with, but that lack of regret didn't make his demons any easier to chase away on this troubled, surreal night.<p>

He stretched out his legs over the end of the sofa, then slowly drew them back up towards his chest and under the blanket as he shivered. Sweet, peaceful sleep just wasn't going to come, though his stiff frame complained every second of being bone tired…

A hoarse, strangled scream, a woman's scream, ringing through his ears had him bolt upright in an instant, solicitously arranged blankets shoved aside. It was only as he stood up, his bare feet shuddering as they hit the chilled floor, that he could zero in on the source of the sound. Magnus and Erin's bedroom. The room where Annika had also retreated for the night. His heart in his mouth, he headed for the door, his hand reaching to open it before he even considered the propriety of barging in. It was the sound of Annika's voice, gentle and soothing, wafting through the closed door, rather than any sense of politeness that stopped him in his tracks.

"Mama, Mama, you were having a nightmare…" She paused and Chakotay heard Erin speak, though she was too distraught for him to hear any words. "I'm fine, I'm undamaged. Papa got help for me then, remember? I'm right here…" The deep tones of Magnus Hansen were now adding into the mix, though his voice was a low murmur with no discernible words.

Chakotay flushed with ashamed self-awareness, and stepped hastily back from the door, fingering his comm. badge to deactivate the Universal Translator. Unfortunately, his eyes met Kathryn's startled ones as she stood at the threshold of Annika's bedroom. "What happened?" she whispered urgently.

Chakotay had to shake his head to clear it as his heart continued to thump painfully in his chest. "I think Erin's having a nightmare." He muttered sadly, disconcerted by Kathryn's piercing gaze. She'd caught him ready to push the door in.

"Poor woman." Kathryn murmured and by the sharp glance Chakotay sent her she knew he'd picked up on the extra meaning and emotion she'd layered on the statement. So, as she'd suspected, Annika had confided in him. She sighed heavily, sympathetically but not without exasperation. "Be careful Chakotay." He didn't reply, but his expression was so guarded that his stoic face said a thousand words. No one could've missed, unless they were wilfully turning a blind eye, Chakotay's connection to Annika. It was intense, Kathryn couldn't put her finger quite on why and that irritated her curious mind. She was clear-eyed and worldly enough to see of course that the timeless, basic power of physical attraction was at work, and had perhaps been strengthened by loneliness and pragmatism, but that didn't explain everything. She was willing to blame part of it on Chakotay's 'wounded bird' complex, he was always drawn to women he could help. Seska had perfectly crafted her alter-ego, a beautiful, intelligent, independent woman who'd risen above the adversity of the Bajoran Occupation, almost solely to attract him. The tendency came undoubtedly stemmed from the kind, warm-hearted nature she knew Chakotay possessed, but she couldn't dismiss the fact that he had a compulsion to be noble, to be needed and relied upon, and the women he was attracted always fanned the flames of that desire. She suspected that his First Officer role on Voyager, she was ready to admit that she'd shrugged him off and rejected his advice as the norm, had left him feeling redundant and dissatisfied as she'd left him out of the loop. By disposition, they were inclined to rub each other up the wrong way even when they both tried to conform and when their moods were at their best. "You may think I isolated myself from you on Voyager Chakotay, and I probably did, but I _do _think I know you." She sighed again, "You're playing with fire, you've only know her for less than _one day_…"

She was interrupted by the bedroom doors opening and Annika stepping out with an unreadable but hard expression on her face as she met their waiting gazes. Kathryn was overwhelmed with mortification as she was suddenly certain that Annika had overheard and understood what she'd said, but the girl made no reference to it in either word or expression. "My mother requires sedation." She stated, her words stilted despite the fact that Kathryn's Universal Translator was active.

With her back proudly erect, her stride defiantly effortless whatever exhaustion her shadowed eyes betrayed, she moved across the room to the box where whatever, surely meagre, supply of medications at her disposal and expertly loaded a hypospray. She cast a sharp glance at them as she listened intently for a second to the sound of the rain. "The storm is blowing out. I'll take you back to your camp in the morning." She announced with cool finality before disappearing back into the bedroom.

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><p><strong>An: PLEASE REVIEW! :D For those readers who don't already know, I'm leaving for a two week trip to China on Monday, so I won't be back on the site to read and review from Monday until the 16****th**** at the earliest. Don't expect regular updates until October, since I'll be jet-lagged and then moving back to uni, but then again you never know, I might draft some chapters on the plane journeys. ;) **

**If you're going to have C/7 fic withdrawal, check out cojack's lovely, heart-warming new one-shot 'Borealis'. Other great writers to check out are: Anniexus, Teya, The Cheshire Cheese, NikkiB1973, Sweetdeath04, Teal06 and lisac1965. **


	10. Under Siege

**A/n: I do not own Star Trek: Voyager. **

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><p>Chakotay blinked, his eyes, already gritty with exhaustion, irritated by the sweat dripping from his brow. Even with the sun still relatively low in the sky, the day was already heating up. Last night's plasma storm must've cleared the atmosphere enough to allow the sun's rays to really beat down. Annika's decision to march them through the forest before the crack of dawn now struck him as less of a fit of pique than grim common sense, he almost missed the damp chilly mist blanketing him as well as those indomitable trees. With a grunt, he braced his muscles once more as he picked up his pace, lifting rather than dragging his burden. To the surprise of them all, perhaps even himself, Magnus Hansen had been extremely obliging in providing research into New Earth's pathogen for Kathryn to pour over, he'd even pressganged Annika into staying with them to provide assistance and translation. This was such a turn around that it had dented Kathryn's eagerness, made her wary, but Magnus' charming, if harried, insistence had led her to submit to it, and the three of them had been loaded down with bags filled with notes and samples before setting off. It was as if Annika and her father's attitudes had switched in terms of being accommodating, he strongly suspected she would've refused to spend another second beyond what was necessary, to their faces, if her father's sudden blast of warmth hadn't wrong-footed her as much as himself and Kathryn. Even then, he knew that it was the promise of medicine for her mother from the replicator than had clinched an extension to Annika's services. Could he blame her for any of that? No, not really.<p>

He kept one careful eye on Annika and Kathryn walking steadily ahead of him, slowing his own pace once more to maintain the gap between them as the two women picked their way awkwardly over the debris strewn ground. The forest was far behind them now, they were almost back 'home', but the more familiar, friendly meadows had actually suffered more heavily from the plasma storm. Without the safety in numbers of the denser forest, much of the foliage he'd wandered through and admired the day before was stripped almost bare, and the uneven ground was littered. It was a scene of destruction that felt all the more incongruous under the serene blue skies and almost eerie calm. Through the two women were speaking quietly, most of their words reached his ears, the tone sticking in his throat. Apparently Kathryn's earlier advice hadn't merited the cold shoulder like being the target of said advice had. If anything they were more amiable than before, though the conversation hadn't delved beyond the small talk of weather patterns and geography. That's where he'd gone wrong, trying to talk about something meaningful, trying to get to know the only people on this godforsaken planet! He sighed, wetting his dry throat with a resigned gulp as he pushed down the impotent but gnawing frustration that had become his constant companion here.

You know she was right, a persistent, taunting, rational voice that sounded oddly like Tuvok, whispered through his brain. You were getting too involved too quickly, that's why you're backing off now. Chakotay bit his lip as his eye caught the sun glinting off Annika's golden hair, self-consciously lowering his gaze. What was he, a magpie? He was proving Kathryn's point by thinking on it too much, he had enough to worry about, they all did. Giving Annika space after such an intense 24 hours was only reasonable, particularly after Kathryn having made her opinion known. Well-intentioned it had been, but couldn't she have 'warned' him in private instead of within Annika's earshot as she nursed her dying mother? Would you have listened to her if Annika hadn't overhead, reacted, and proved it true on some level? The logical inner voice asked. He frowned darkly, clearly able to imagine himself shrugging her off or becoming overly defensive. Okay, he had gotten in too deep yesterday, his joy and relief at finding other people on this planet, something that lifted the constant anxiety for everyone he knew and had cared for, the depressing, certain, monotonous future for himself and Kathryn, that sudden influx of positive emotion had propelled him along faster than was wise, he knew that. Perhaps he'd been incautious in his head and his heart in those first few heady, surreal hours, but he wasn't going to apologise for showing Annika, whether she was a stranger or not, kindness and empathy. They might not be on Earth, with no prospect now of returning to it, but that didn't mean he was going to be inhumane. Kathryn seemed to believe that he was going to act like a _caveman_, fulfilling every First Officer stereotype in regards to beautiful and exotic women, thrown together in dramatic circumstances… He chuckled bitterly, shaking his head dismissively at Kathryn when she glanced back at him curiously, Annika didn't even bother. His heart twisted and suddenly he felt more tired than ever, emotionally weary. He supposed he should've accepted by now that Kathryn didn't trust his judgement, not with women anyway, memories of his tortured entanglements with Seska ran too deep and were too fresh, her deception with Tom just weeks ago had revealed that mistrust once more. Perhaps it was justified, maybe on Voyager it had been fair enough, but to cast that up here? Damn it, _he _couldn't trust himself with Seska, but did that mean that that…relationship would poison everything else he touched? Affect his judgement so drastically? Give him ulterior motives in the eyes of others…and in his own?

"It looked from your father's map that you've travelled several square miles around where your ship crashed, and not just in this direction." Kathryn remarked to Annika as they walked. Her feet were killing her. Obviously her games of Velocity on the holodeck hadn't been enough to keep her fit.

"Absolutely." Annika confirmed, "Of course, my parents were constrained somewhat at first because I was so young, and now their health isn't up to…" She trailed off, lips whitening. "But we did get a few years of roaming quite far, of exploring."

Kathryn looked at her keenly, "It must've been an experience." Annika's nod was almost reluctant, but once she'd committed her eyes were sincere, even as they pinched a little at some memory. "You must've found new supplies, made new discoveries." Kathryn pressed on.

Annika flashed her a wry, already knowing, smile. "Don't worry, Papa has supplied you with almost every sample from those excursions. You're not missing anything." She grimaced slightly, regretting her choice of words, but was quickly able to disassociate the expression with her words by gesturing down at the rocks underfoot. The Starfleet Captain had already stubbed her toes painfully several times.

"I would hope not." She replied, careful to keep her tone neutral, but her hands twisted together apprehensively all the same. "You and your family have certainly been able to utilise everything, plants, wildlife, technology…" They practically have a siege mentality, she thought to herself suspiciously as she thought of the compound in the woods, the mysterious shield. "That technology, it could feasibly be retrofitted for communication couldn't it?" she blurted out, "At least subspace communication?"

Annika glanced at her sharply, stopping in her tracks. "You want to contact Voyager?"

"I…" Words failed Kathryn for a moment as emotion and rationale battled within her. _Was_ that what she was asking? She herself had ensured that there was little point, she'd made the call on Voyager leaving them behind. Her last order as Captain was for the crew to continue on the journey home without delay. She knew most of her crew believed they'd given up too soon, but she'd been firm. The thought of stranding the crew a second time around had been too much. By calling them back, what would she be doing? Prolonging the inevitable? Undermining Tuvok? Suddenly, she recognised why Chakotay had been so aggravated by her attempts to find a cure. She'd surrendered to fate enough to send their crew away for good, but not enough to settle down on this planet and accept things. Maybe she was really hoping that her crew would disobey her in her absence? That wasn't exactly a redeeming thought, expecting, _wanting_, her crew to be lost without her. Well, sometimes the emotions and reasoning behind actions couldn't be fitted into neat little boxes, they were messy and tangled. "I don't know." She finally admitted softly, "There would be no logic to it, as an old friend of mine would say." She tried to smile at that, but found herself having to gulp back a lump in her throat. "I ordered them to leave us behind for a reason." She reminded Annika, and herself, forcefully, "Maybe if I'd found that miraculous cure but…" She stopped herself, still not quite ready to give up on that despite her inner reprimands, "At least they'd know Chakotay and I aren't alone here, that might comfort them." She couldn't quite restrain her pained sigh.

"Yes, I'm sure that it would comfort them." Annika agreed quietly, guilt and sorrow swirling in her gut. Her father had told her to expect the question on communication capability, and she herself had been anticipating it even before she'd known their story, but now that she was faced with the scenario, she found it harder to deflect than she'd imagined. The raw grief etched into the older woman's strong features, the sincere anguish in her voice, was just too powerful to ignore. Annika was acutely aware of who she needed to protect, but she wasn't heartless and could see that Kathryn too, needed some sort of protection from their situation. Maybe it _would _all work out happily, for _all _of them. "Honestly, I'm unsure." She replied awkwardly, able with that unrevealing truth to at least look her in the eye. "We've never had anyone _to _contact, but…" She hesitated, then said carefully, "Perhaps it is possible, it may well be, with a little work and time."

Kathryn smiled at her gratefully, giving her unscarred arm a small squeeze. "That's a good philosophy, time used properly and a lot of work can achieve miracles." Her voice became husky, even as her eyes brightened with hope, "Like getting one ship across the galaxy."

"I hope so." Annika murmured sincerely, "Truly."

Kathryn smiled at her again in acknowledgement but was ready to change the subject. She stopped to glance back at Chakotay, paradoxically feeling both relieved that he was wise enough to keep his distance and disappointed in him that he could be discouraged so easily. "I'd better wait and see how Chakotay's doing, you can lead on." She suggested. Annika's only response to nod and keep walking. "Do you want me to take some of those off your hands for a while?" she asked, indicating the bags Annika was lugging.

Annika continued to look straight ahead, "No." she answered stiffly, only belatedly adding, "Thank you."

"Alright." Kathryn agreed simply, guilt beginning to stir inside her. Annika had refused from the start to take Chakotay up on the offer to carry part of her share of the load, as for herself, she'd accepted the offer at once, although it was Annika who was the worst for wear from the evening before, chalk faced, eyes subtly red rimmed and hooded with shadow. With a sigh, she let the stubborn young girl go ahead and waited for Chakotay. She didn't regret what she'd said to Chakotay, she stood by it, in fact it was preferable too that Annika had caught a glimpse of what the two of them were acting like from someone outside their bubble, they were both self-aware now, but she did wish she'd been more tactful in the telling. Maybe not for Chakotay's sake, he expected her to just speak her mind, but she doubted Annika understood that it hadn't really been a reflection on her. She certainly hadn't set out to hurt the girl, and now she couldn't help but berate herself for probably burning bridges where there were already too few. Chakotay's connection with Annika had been useful, even if it did concern her…

Chakotay prodded her out of her thoughts succinctly, "Communications Kathryn?"

She instantly bristled, "Don't even say anything. I know that…"

"I was going to say that it would be a good thing if it were possible." Chakotay cut her off levelly, "Certainly we shouldn't ignore it if the possibility is there. Voyager isn't out of reach yet, and I doubt they've given up yet either."

She shot him a fleeting look of accusation. "You've never given me the impression of believing any of that up until now." She reminded him incredulously.

Chakotay rolled his broad, tense shoulders, the closest the self-contained man could get to an expression of stress when his guard was up, though Kathryn knew that, had one of his hands been free, he would've run it briefly through his hair. "Of course I _wanted_ to believe in all that, and more." He retorted in a low voice, "But clinging to that hope for dear life would've made me even more miserable, I was trying to move forward and be practical."

She could've said so much to that, but held her tongue in favour of keeping the peace. "Fair enough." She answered eventually. They walked together in silence for a few minutes before Kathryn, who'd been watching Annika plough on ahead of them, asked abruptly, "Did you ask Annika how she was burned?"

Chakotay turned dark, narrowed eyes on her. "Did _you _ask her?" he countered pointedly.

"No." She replied at once, "No, of course not." She shook her head sheepishly, it only occurred to her then, shamefully that earlier accusing Chakotay of 'playing with fire' in regards to Annika, a burns victim, had been cruelly thoughtless. "Sorry."

Chakotay sighed heavily, regarding her dubiously. "Why do you ask?" he muttered reluctantly, already aware he wouldn't like the answer.

"Because, well…" Kathryn bit her lip, "Her injuries were obviously serious, probably even life-threatening at the time, but now they're relatively well healed…"

"And that's a good thing." Chakotay reminded her impatiently.

"Of course it is." Kathryn replied irritably, "But how did they treat her? We know that neither of her parents are medical doctors, and we've seen how limited their supplies are. Erin Hansen is dying of a treatable condition!" Chakotay flinched but she continued, "Wouldn't burns like the require specialist treatment? Specially designed dermal regenerators? Repeated skin grafts as she grew? The fire was obviously close to one eye, but something saved her vision…"

Chakotay spoke through a clenched jaw. "Maybe they had more supplies back then that have gotten depleted over the years…" He started to suggest, his agitation building as he realised he didn't sound convincing. "Maybe she was just lucky!" He finished heatedly, glaring at Kathryn in exasperation, "Does it matter? In the grand scheme of things?" he demanded.

Kathryn considered him before deciding to back off. "No, probably not." She conceded.

Annika meanwhile, had moved further ahead. Far enough in fact, that she was on the limits of the range of their Universal Translators, their lowered voices reaching her ears as muffled English. She neither moved closer, nor strained to understand, she'd decided she hardly cared what they said. Of course, Captain Janeway's words had stung, but she'd drawn almost as much relief as pain and offence from the sentiment. Her mother's irrational hopes in that direction, the pressure of them, could be dismissed without her sticking her neck out. She grit her teeth as she tried to mould her emotions to follow that line of thought, marching over the rough ground to try to expel her frustration. Yes, Janeway _had _done her a favour! She wasn't desperate. If Janeway, who knew her First Officer much better than she did, felt the need to rein in his apparently rampant and undiscerning libido, she was better off without such a man!

She funnelled her feelings of rejection into the old, deep channel of being dismissed from her own home. Her father had sent her away with these people without even asking her, while her mother was ill and needed her! Was she supposed to roam the planet like a lone wolf whenever her parents got overwhelmed? Of course, rationally she realised that her father was likely meeting with Zuslan and the others while she kept the Starfleet officers at a distance, but she also knew her father would tell her little of what was discussed and debated. Nariella, the gossip of the group, would tell her everything anyway, but that was hardly the point. Her resentment was fuelled by exhaustion, her legs felt like lead and her head was pounding. She wanted to go home! Now that every moment with her mother was precious, she hardly had a right to leave… Her eyes began to burn threateningly as her mind tried and failed to recoil from the precipice, the chilling numbness of certain loss… Instinctively, she sped up, began to run…

Her body slammed against the ground as her foot caught something, her hands sprawling frantically over the dirt. "Sjutten också!" she exclaimed angrily, cursing more strongly as pain shot up her leg when she struggled upright.

"What happened?" Chakotay and Kathryn demanded as one, both having broken into a jog to reach her as they'd watched her fall.

Annika glanced down at the offending obstruction as she stood, ignoring their extended hands even as she wobbled. "I tripped on a molehill." She muttered.

"A molehill?" Kathryn echoed dubiously even as she saw that the solid mound of earth by Annika's foot _did _look like a molehill.

"They're like mole-weasel hybrids, their burrows can run underground for several kilometres." Annika explained.

"A cross between a mole and a weasel? Will we see one?" Chakotay asked dubiously.

"You don't want to, they eat anything growing." Annika muttered darkly while grimacing in pain.

Chakotay could see why, not only was her ankle probably twisted, given the awkward way she was standing, but something sharp on the ground had opened a gaping gash up her shin from the base of her knee to the top of her ankle. "You shouldn't be standing on that leg." He told her worriedly.

"No." Kathryn agreed, somewhat squeamishly. "We haven't got more than half a kilometre to go, Chakotay and I know where we are now. You stay here and we'll go to our camp and then bring back a medical kit…"

"No." Annika cut her off shortly, "I'm fine."

"You want to keep going?" Chakotay asked incredulously, eyeing her leg wound, it was already bleeding copiously.

Annika arched her mismatched brows, a sardonic glint in her pained eyes. "I'll walk slowly." She assured him drily.

"Yes, you will…" Chakotay replied with a sigh, bending to rifle through the boxes. "Maybe there's something in here…"

"There isn't, it's all research." Kathryn informed him, "Aren't there any…natural supplies you can find to help? On Earth willow bark can be used as a painkiller, right? There have to be certain natural substances here with are antiseptic…" To Chakotay's wry amusement, she looked to him as well as Annika for an answer, as if she expected him to pull some magical Indian medicine out of his ass. He'd need to gently remind her again that while his upbringing had been colonial and traditional, it hadn't been _backward_, he was as much a child of the 24th Century Federation as she was. Even if he had been some sort of medicine man, this planet had its own unique ecosystem!

Annika was equally sceptical, perhaps even more so. "Yes, there will be, but I think I'd rather keep walking than have to search through all this botanical research then head back to the forest on a foraging expedition."

Kathryn flushed, then managed a tired but self-deprecating laugh that redeemed her. "Of course you would." She conceded, "I can get a little carried away." She shook her head, "I _do _remember, at your camp, that your father was crushing some kind of flower as a painkiller and sedative for your mother though."

Chakotay saw Annika's eyes widen, her complexion draining further until her face was almost grey. She looked as if Kathryn had just punched her in the gut. She gulped repeatedly, then tensed as she regained control of herself. "Yes…" She confirmed stiltedly, "The opiate isn't actually in the flower, but the root." Her eyes hardened, mouth tight as her tone became vehement, "The high takes away the pain, but the downer isn't worth that. It brings things back…vividly." She set her jaw firmly, her face shutting down further. "So don't take it unless you're desperate, it's too easy to become addicted."

Chakotay was disturbed, the violent revulsion in her reaction reminded him of his maternal grandparents, first generation immigrants to Dorvan V from Guatemala, and their attitude to drugs. The bloodshed and tragedy that the illegal drugs industry of the 20th and 21st Centuries had wreaked on their recent ancestors was embedded in the collective memories of their communities. Though they'd respected the practice of using stimulants for ceremonies such as vision quests, he knew his grandmother in particular had been wary of even that. However, Annika's reaction had been more personal. Was it possible she'd once been drugged? Had Annika's burns been so bad that she'd had to endure doses of hallucinogens to ease the physical pain? As a child? He didn't want to imagine that. He could see that the cogs in Kathryn's brain were turning and that she was opening her mouth to question, but stepped in before she could do so. "Then we're just going to have to go back to absolute basics." He said quietly, removing the light cotton shirt he wore over his Starfleet issue vest and briskly tearing off a few strips that weren't already damp with his sweat. "Bandages." He murmured as Annika stared at him, kneeling down to start wrapping her legs before she could refuse out of stubborn pride.

"Oh…" Annika winced as he applied pressure, pitching forward until she had to grasp his shoulders to keep herself upright. Traitorously, she felt herself blush even with the pain in her leg to distract her. "Thank you." She told him in a heartfelt whisper, aware that he'd purposefully changed the subject, she'd seen it in his face, his concerned eyes. She swallowed with difficulty, "Can we please keep going now?" She hated the plea she could hear in her own voice.

"I think so." Kathryn replied kindly, exchanging a glance with Chakotay before she touched Annika's shoulder. "You've had to spin out the medicine you have, anyone would understand that." She assured her quietly, "You can replicate every medicine in our replicator when we get back to camp if you wish, but we'll treat that leg first, okay?"

"Okay." Annika submitted, easily now. She didn't make any objection when Chakotay stood up and began to help her walk.

* * *

><p>The images filled her mind, each fighting for dominance. The voices were so loud, drowning out her own thoughts in their desperate racket. She was being pushed out, yes, but neither would they let her go. She disappeared under the waves, then resurfaced, screaming for the others as well as herself… Pain sparked at the base of her skull, buried itself deep, and then spread. Inescapable. Feeling returned to her deadened skin as thousands of knives gouging at her… Unbearable. Irresistible. No, no, <em>no!<em>

"Annika! Annika, wake up!" Chakotay said urgently, shaking her shoulders hard until the blanket Kathryn had covered her with earlier fell off.

Annika's eyes shot open, but they were glazed, staring at him without recognition as her chest heaved for air. Her skin was deadly white, gleaming with cold sweat. "What happened?" she asked weakly as she blinked dazedly. "Where are we?"

Chakotay started to reach out to steady her, but thought better of it. "You're in Kathryn and I's shelter." He reminded her carefully, "You'd fallen asleep, but just now you were having a nightmare." He took a deep breath to steady his own nerves. He'd come back in having spent the afternoon repairing mild storm damage to the shelter to find Annika in the grip of terror. Her leg had been treated as soon as they'd got back, and after being plied with iron pills by Kathryn, who'd realised with the help of a medical tricorder that the girl was seriously anaemic, she'd sat down to wait while Erin's medicine was replicated, and had fallen asleep almost at once. Her peace had apparently been short lived.

"Yes." Annika whispered, a little hoarsely in agreement. She had to blink several more times before the lurid green tinge left her vision, leaving her able to focus on Chakotay's handsome, anxious face. Still muddled, she slipped into staring at him, finding his eyes oddly soothing, absorbing. He was level with her, kneeling beside her, she was sitting on the floor.

Chakotay studied her worriedly, something wasn't right. She still seemed…absent somehow. Unconsciously, she clawed agitatedly at the base of her skull, wincing as she did so. Of course, it could just be a crick in her neck, but… "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked cautiously.

"No." Annika assured him, a little colour returning to her face, "It is…irrelevant." She cringed at the slip and hurriedly tried to stand, though she was shaking like a leaf. Once again, Chakotay had to steady and stand with her. "Is everything ready for me to leave?" she questioned abruptly.

"The last few items on your list of medicines are still being replicated." Chakotay told her, "And anyway, I think you should rest a little more before making the walk back."

To his surprise, Annika didn't completely deny that. "Maybe." She admitted, but continually to glance around skittishly, unable to settle. "But isn't there anything I can do?"

Chakotay recognised the pattern right away, he'd distracted himself with mindless activity often enough. Part of him didn't want to offer her that excuse, but empathy won out. "Well, you could help me dismantle that bath…"

Annika was overtaken with a fit of nervous, near hysterical laughter, still breathless even as she pushed it back and met his eyes bravely. "Are you sure about that Commander? It does seem to be your only joke after all…"

Chakotay laughed, her wit finding its mark. "Okay then, in that case maybe we should just clean all the storm debris out…"

* * *

><p>Magnus stumbled wearily into his bedroom, wincing at the sound of Erin's laboured breathing, the sight of her withered figure on the bed. Even the arrival of Zuslan and the others, their concern, their anxieties, their opinions all ringing throughout the whole house, hadn't roused her. He supposed he should feel grateful for that, but he couldn't summon up the will to feel anything. He was listless, bleak, he couldn't focus enough to think of Annika…<p>

Erin moaned restlessly. Automatically, he moved to her bedside, taking a prepared vial of the root's extract and putting a few drops on her tongue. She instinctively recoiled and he grimaced. "I'm so sorry…" He whispered miserably, hardly hesitating before he titled the rest of the vial down his own throat, welcoming the painful burn…

* * *

><p><strong>An: Please review.**

'**Sjutten också!' translates as a Swedish equivalent to 'Damn it!' but maybe a little milder. **


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